Two brothers, aged 20 and 15, are being praised as heroes after running into a burning assisted living facility in Glendale, California, to rescue trapped elderly residents. Alex Bazinyan and his younger brother Narek acted before firefighters arrived, pulling multiple immobile residents, some injured and using catheters, from the smoke-filled building after hearing staff screaming for help.

The fire broke out at around 4.45pm on Friday on the 1800 block of Mountain Street, trapping eight people inside, including two nurses struggling to evacuate residents. Narek first tried to fight the flames with a hose before the brothers went inside themselves, carrying residents out one by one despite thick smoke and, moments after the last rescue, an explosion believed to have been caused by an oxygen tank, which partly collapsed the building. Two neighbours also joined the effort, helping bring six elderly residents to safety on the front lawn before emergency services arrived; seven people suffered minor injuries, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.