TURLOCK, Calif. — Nearly a week ago, 38-year-old Robert Arndt was homeless and sleeping in the backseat of a SUV just after midnight when it suddenly caught fire.
"Right now, he's got third degree burns. The deepest burns are on his hands and his feet. His face got second-degree burns. And they say he's got lighter burns on his chest and his back," Daniel Arndt said, Robert's father.
Robert is a former Marine and father of two young girls. His father said Robert has had difficulty holding down jobs because of his schizophrenia. Robert's injuries landed him in the hospital and in a medically-induced coma.
But things could have been much worse if not for an unknown good Samaritan. Robert wasn't able to get out of the car during the fire, but a good Samaritan managed to pull him from the flames and save his life.
Firefighters found Arndt in a nearby alley before he was flown to a burn center in Sacramento. But the good Samaritan was nowhere to be found.
"He didn't have to do that, but he did. Hopefully, if he is listening to this or anything, hopefully he didn't get burned or injured himself either," Daniel said.
Ashely Fraiser was there when it all happened and when the SUV went up in flames. She works at the Turlock Gospel Mission, which is less than a block from where Arndt's car was.
"We heard a couple louds booms. It sounded like some explosions going on," Fraiser said.
"As I got a little bit closer the pressure from the heat had caused the back tire to explode off," she added. "I could hear my co-workers yelling at me, 'It's too dangerous.' And, I realized, at that point, it was too dangerous for me to go."
Daniel is now trying his best to get to Sacramento and be by his son's side as he goes through a long road to recovery. Being in Indiana and on disability, Daniel is asking for funds to help him reach his son and help with his medical needs. A GoFundMe for the Arndt's can be found HERE.
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