Neighbors Douse Home Fire, Save Freckles, the Pet Spaniel : Blaze: Quick work with pots and pans of water saves most of a family’s home.

STANTON — A fire extinguisher sat on the kitchen wall, but Norman Simioni and his friends never saw it.

Instead, the would-be firemen grabbed pots, pans, a garbage can and anything else that would hold water to put out a blaze in a neighbor’s home and earn accolades from the real firefighters for helping avert any serious damage or injuries.

“That was the first thing we thought of,” Simioni, 23, said of the unusual firefighting technique employed by him and four other members of his bucket brigade. “Just getting something to put the water in.”

Their quick work managed to save most of the home--and Freckles, the family’s springer spaniel, who was locked in a family room downstairs. No one else was home during the second-story blaze, and the pooch escaped unhurt with the aid of the neighbors.

The fire apparently started at 8:30 p.m. Saturday when a lamp fell onto a water bed in the home of Nick and Lori Meyers at 7291 Kirby Way in Stanton. Because of the efforts of the neighbors, Orange County Fire Department officials said, the blaze was largely confined to the bedroom. It caused several thousand dollars’ worth of damage.

“It was very impressive for these residents to take it upon themselves to fight the fire,” said Capt. Dan Young, spokesman for the Orange County Fire Department. By the time three engines arrived at the scene, the flames were largely extinguished, Young said.

As the neighbors set up their brigade, one grabbed a gas mask that he uses in his printing job and put it on to enter the burning room with pots of water.

But Simioni was not so lucky, facing the flames directly and suffering smoke inhalation that required a stay of about four hours at Humana Hospital in Anaheim. By Sunday, he was fine, suffering only a headache and regrets about birthday bar-hopping plans gone awry.

As Simioni, two of his brothers and two friends were starting Simioni’s 23rd-birthday celebration with a barbecue, they heard what sounded like a fire alarm go off nearby in the townhouse complex.

Flames from a second-story window at Meyers’ house, two doors down, showed it was no false alarm.

“I noticed the window was glowing,” said Frank Franco, 30, who lives next door and was celebrating with Simioni.

When the neighbors knocked and got no answer, they debated what to do. “Should I kick it? Should I kick it?” Simioni recalled asking his friends.

He had never kicked down a door before. But after watching a few too many adventure shows on television, he confessed, “I’d always wanted to.”

He got his chance Saturday night. And with one kick, the door was open, splintered cleanly along its frame.

Simioni and his friends went in, took a look upstairs at the fire, then rushed downstairs to rummage through the kitchen cabinets for pots and pans to hold water pouring from the kitchen sink.

A few feet away, the fire extinguisher sat by the refrigerator.

No matter; after about four or five trips upstairs for each of the five amateur firefighters, the blaze was largely out.

Nick and Lori Meyers got home with their 4-year-old son from an off-road show at the Anaheim Convention Center around 9:15 p.m., perhaps 15 minutes after the danger had passed, to find their mattress destroyed, a lamp mangled, and many of their clothes soot-covered and damaged.

But the damage to the house was minimal--and Freckles was safe, too.

“If it wasn’t for the smoke detectors, forget it--the place would’ve just burned right down,” said Nick Meyers, who works in the parts department of an auto dealership. “That $8 was worth every penny.”

Times staff writer Kristina Lindgren contributed to this report.