Eagles

Former Eagle Jon Dorenbos Saved a Woman Who Caught on Fire

By Kyle Pagan

Published: Feb 1st, 2022 · 9:30 AM EST

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Jon Dorenbos and his wife were eating dinner in Huntington Beach, California on January 19th, when a woman who owned a restaurant down the street caught on fire from a space heater keeping outdoor guests warm:

In an exclusive for PhillyVoice, Jon Dorenbos and his wife recount the wild story of how the former #Eagles star saved the life of a restaurant owner who caught on fire. Read it here, from @JSantoliquito:https://t.co/xSxBO5N6eS

— PhillyVoice (@thephillyvoice) January 31, 2022

Joe Santoloquito at Philly Voice detailed the entire moment via Jon and his wife Annalise, which begins with them having dinner on the outside patio of a restaurant called “Red Table” – .

Two doors down is a mom-and-pop type restaurant called Vegiliciuos, owned by a sweet couple from Japan, Akira and Ana Nakoa. Recently, the couple had bought a small space heater to keep their outdoor dining patrons warm.

Suddenly out of nowhere came high-pitched screams piercing Jon and Annalise’s tranquil dinner conversation.

…

In a span of seconds, they witnessed Ana’s apron on fire from the space heater, and then the flames engulfed the rest of her as she was serving a family of five, a couple with three small children. Ana was a running torch, screaming from the restaurant toward the strip mall courtyard.

It was surreal, like a movie stuntman running out of a burning building.

“I just grabbed the blanket off of Annalise and I ran over there and tackled her with the blanket and tried to get her to calm down,” recalled Jon, whose inspiring life story is well chronicled and may be turned into a movie. “I was trying to tell her to calm down and that I was going to take care of her, and Annalise ran up behind me. The interesting thing with the breakout of COVID, is that there are no table cloths outside.

“There was nothing to put the fire out. Annalise was grabbing cups of water and throwing it at Ana. I don’t know what would have happened to Ana if we didn’t have the blanket out. The owner of Red Table came running out dialing 911, and then he ran back into his kitchen with a fire extinguisher. That took about 40 seconds and by that time, the fire was out.”

Unfortunately, the woman he rescued suffered major burn damage and had to go through an intense eight hour surgery just to prep for multiple skin graft operations. Here is Ana Nakoa’s verified GoFundMe if you’d like to donate.

Wow. Who knows what happens if Jon Dorenbos doesn’t grab that blanket from the car. I think a lot of people think they would act the same way in a situation like this, I know I do, but you don’t actually know until you’re placed in an emergency situation. I think you’re willing to act based more off of your life experiences than having an actual ‘hero gene’ that kicks in during those situations. Jon Dorenbos has had plenty of life experiences in his short 41 years where he had to deal with pressure. He spends a year and a half in foster care after his dad murdered his mother, he becomes a long snapper by sending UTEP another teammate’s long snapping tape, he played 14 years in the NFL at an unforgivable position, had an entire second career he balanced with football that he was equally good at, and without being traded in 2017 he most likely doesn’t find out he’s suffering from an aortic aneurysm which required immediate heart surgery. That’s a guy I want eating two doors down from me in case of emergency.

Here’s another link to Joe’s full story at Philly Voice.