Photo: Chris Manky

UPDATE: 3:20 p.m.

David Hillary says he didn't have time to think about his own safety when he vaulted himself over the fence and into the backyard of a burning mobile home, Monday night.

"You don't really get the option to wait for the fire department when the house is starting to go up in flames," 27-year-old Hillary said.

Spotting the woman inside, he reached through the broken back window and managed to drag her out.

"I couldn't even see within six inches inside the house, it'd burn your eyes, burn your lungs, it was really bad."

While Hillary says he didn't know the woman personally, she was known around the neighbourhood for delivering papers with her dog.

"Everybody really knows her, everybody sees her and her dog," Hillary said, "Her and her dog were the companion team that handed out newspapers."

While Hillary was able to save the woman's cat, her dog did not make it out.

ORIGINAL: 10:53 a.m.

Residents of West Kelowna's Paradise Mobile Home Park are calling several young men heroes, after they put their own safety aside Monday night and jumped to the rescue of a woman whose home went up in flames.

The fire erupted at 9 p.m., quickly overtaking the mobile home's front porch and moving on to the rest of the structure.

A neighbour, out on his balcony, saw the flames and called 911.

Lucas Truman, David Hillary, and a few other unidentified men rushed to the woman's rescue, after it was determined she was still inside.

“One young man heard her screaming from her back window ... I have no idea what his name is, he was there like an angel and then disappeared after, but he jumped over the fence,” said a neighbour. “Lucas then went flying in.”

The woman reportedly tried to escape out the back, but couldn't get the doors to open.

The men tried to kick in the back door, but the flames and smoke were too thick to enter.

They were able to find the woman near a window in the back of the home, and pull her out, while other neighbours found ladders to help her over the fence.

They also saved her cat, but the woman's dog didn't make it out in time.

“The other young guy had come out front after they got her out, and he was shaking,” the neighbour said. “He asked me if I had a lighter, and said 'I know it's funny, but I need a smoke,'”

The witness said the whole ordeal was extremely chaotic and happened very quickly, but the whole community came together to help.

“One of the other neighbours grabbed her in a big hug, and she just collapsed on the ground,” the neighbour said. “She didn't have shoes, so one neighbour brought her some slippers and a blanket, and we all just kind of hugged her because she was just in total shock.

“She was seconds away from being in big trouble.”

While the woman lost her home and her beloved dog, she made it out alive, thanks in large part to the quick action of her neighbours.

“These young men put their lives at risk ... they were frantically trying to get this woman out of her house,” the neighbour said. “She would not be here without them, guaranteed.”