Lodi man saves Nebraska couple and their dog from burning home
May 26—The town of Hastings, Neb., is calling a Lodi man a hero this week after he rescued an elderly couple and their dog from a burning duplex.
Dylan Crawford and his fiancee Jennica Casciaro had just returned home with burritos in the pouring rain at about 7:30 p.m. Monday night.
Not wanting to make their way through the downpour with their food, the couple decided to eat in the car before heading inside.
Crawford caught a glimpse of flames in his rearview mirror, looked over his shoulder and saw that a neighbor's house across the street was on fire.
"I looked in the rearview mirror, and from then on it was just like I was on autopilot," Crawford said. "I just went straight to the door, pounding on it and screaming. I could see flames bubbling every few seconds and the fire was just moving so fast."
After several minutes of pounding on the doors and windows, an elderly woman in a wheelchair opened the front door. Crawford told her the house was on fire, then pulled her to safety.
He said he asked if anyone was still inside, and the woman said her husband was. Crawford rushed back inside.
"I saw him laying on the bed, grabbed him and his wheelchair," he said. "I had some trouble getting him moving because his foot kept getting stuck. It was kind of a scary moment, but I had to pause a moment and say 'let's reset and take a minute to regroup.' "
Crawford was able to get the man outside. Just when he thought he was finished, the couple told him their dog was still inside.
He ran back inside once again and found the dog, a pug that was so scared it wouldn't let Crawford near it.
After about a minute of trying to grab the animal, Crawford took off his shirt, wrapped it up and carried it to the door.
"I just threw it toward the grass as far as I could," he said. "I could feel the flames licking my back as I reached the front door. I just remember running around and making sure everyone was out."
While he was evacuating the building, his fiancee called 911. Hastings Fire Department personnel arrived on scene just as Crawford escaped the blaze with the dog.
At the same moment, the home's roof collapsed. Firefighters told Crawford that if he had been a minute late, he would have perished in the blaze.
Steve Rokosky told the Hastings Tribune that he had gone to bed early because he wasn't feeling well, and the next thing he knew, we woke to commotion with a stranger telling him the house was on fire.
"Thank God he was there," Rokosky told the Tribune. "I didn't know what was going on. I got in my wheelchair and he pushed me out."
Crawford, 22, was a standout wrestler for Lodi High School from 2014 to 2017. After graduating, he said he stopped wrestling for a couple years and attended Sacramento City College to earn an associate's degree.
He spent a year with the Santa Cruz Police Department with the hopes of becoming an officer, but then returned to Lodi and began attending UC Davis.
It was there that a recruiter from Hastings College found him and persuaded him to join the team.
Now, he's studying community health and wellness while he wrestles for the college.
"Everyone's calling me a hero out here, but really, it was God using me to do something," he said. "I always thought being a police officer was the only way to do something good in the community. But I realized there were other ways to help people. This played a big part in it."
