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A young woman's heroic act has been her last after she died in a horrific blaze that tore through her home on Christmas Eve.
The fire was sparked by an artificial Christmas tree that shorted out in the middle of the night, killing 22-year-old Destiny Abdrazack and her two dogs.
The home in Sacramento, California, had no working smoke alarms.
Abdrazack was staying the night at her fiancé'd parents' house when the blaze broke out.
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The family are now calling Abdrazack a hero in the wake of her death, with the rest of the family surviving because she sounded the alarm.
Ernest Isom, his wife, their son and his fiancee and two other adults had fallen asleep celebrating Christmas Eve.
Isom said: "Unfortunately, she was the one who yelled fire, and that's the sad part. She saved our lives."
He added that he, his wife, their son, and two other adults had fallen asleep celebrating Christmas Eve with Abdrazack when the family fell asleep celebrating the holiday season.
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"Unfortunately, they wanted to keep the lights on until the last minute and we all happened to fall asleep and we had an instant, seconds to get out," he said.
"It was fast, and that's how quick it went. I'm talking minutes."
Neighbours told KCRA that they awoke to screams, but despite living three doors away from the family, nothing could be done.
"You could see the flickering light on the tree and that's kind of like the telltale sign of a fire," said David Drive resident Richard Byers said.
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The man refused to stand by and watch the house burn.
He told reporters he grabbed an extinguisher while another neighbour used a garden hose.
However, it was too late for and her two dogs.
Brandy Byers added: "They were screaming, 'Destiny! There's someone inside! There's someone inside!' There's nothing any of us could do.
A GoFundMe has been set up by family members to help pay funeral costs for Abdrazack in the wake of her tragic death.
Topics: US News
Rachel Lang