Man’s work leads to life-saving effort

When Marcos Caro took a service call at a home in Boulder City, he didn’t know the day would end with him saving a woman and her dog from a house fire.

Caro, a repair technician for Priority Services of Las Vegas, was working on the roof of a local home Dec. 10.

“I happened to look up and see smoke,” he said. “I looked across the street and smoke was already coming out of the garage.”

He said he climbed from the roof and ran across the street to the home at 1322 Esther Drive, yelling about a fire.

Caro said he started banging on the steel security door and then on the front door. No one answered, so he said he decided to see if the door was unlocked.

“I got to the point that if the door is open, I’m going in. … If not, I’m going to dial 911,” he said.

The door was unlocked, so he went in. He said he felt like it was someone telling him to go inside.

The home was filling with smoke, and Caro said he heard water running. He went through different rooms, calling out to see if anyone was there and found a woman in the bathroom.

“She was in the shower and didn’t know her house was on fire,” he said.

Caro said he told her they needed to get out of the house. She put on a robe and came with him. Caro also found her dog and brought them both to safety.

“That was it,” he said. “I went back to work.”

Shortly after the Boulder City Fire Department arrived, emergency medical technicians found him across the street and examined him. Caro went to a hospital where he was treated for a high carbon monoxide level and later was released .

City Council honored Caro at its Jan. 28 meeting. Mayor Kiernan McManus thanked Caro for his actions on behalf of the community and the homeowner.

“… we want to thank you very much … that’s selfless courage,” he said. “That’s the most important kind.”

Caro thanked the city for the recognition.

“My biggest fear was probably not seeing my family again, but God had other plans, so I’m grateful for that,” he said.

Caro said his own family drove his actions that day.

“In the back of my head, I thought what if this was my house,” he said.

Looking back, Caro also said everything worked out in a way that was more than a coincidence.

His boss was initially supposed to do the service call later in the day, but Caro said he decided to take it and do it earlier. He also said the job was taking longer than he expected, so he was still on the roof to see the smoke. Additionally, he said many air-conditioning units are in the attic and not on a roof.

“There’s too many coincidences to be a coincidence,” said Caro, who lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Susana, her three children and his three children.

According to Boulder City, Henderson Fire Department helped with the call and investigators said they believed a faulty lithium battery charger inside the garage sparked the fire.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.