Ryan Warren

Ryan Warren rescued Jeffrey G. Hickey from burning, Weaverville, California, October 9, 2025. Hickey, 79, who used a walker and was hearing impaired, lay on the floor in the living room of his burning single-level house. He had activated his medical alert pendant, which sent a text to his family members. Warren, 27, tattoo artist and Hickey’s grandson, had just visited Hickey about 15 minutes earlier and was at his mother’s house nearby when he received the alert. Warren drove to his grandfather’s house and saw smoke rising from the roof. He opened the front door, ran inside a few steps but was repelled by thick smoke and exited by the same route. He called 911 on his cell phone, covered his mouth with his sweatshirt, and ran back in with the phone in his pocket. Warren ran about 30 feet to the living room, where he’d been visiting with Hickey earlier, and found him on the floor. The kitchen was engulfed in flames about 15 feet away from Hickey and parts of the living room carpet were also burning near him. Warren grabbed his grandfather under the arms and dragged him out to the porch. Warren then placed Hickey in a wheelchair and moved him down the porch stairs and into the front yard. An ambulance took Hickey, who was burned, to a hospital and a helicopter flew him to another hospital in Sacramento, where he died two days later from his injuries. Warren, who went to a hospital to be evaluated, recovered after coughing up black phlegm for several days.

2025-0000365-10574