NORTH HIGHLANDS, Calif. — A North Highlands home was engulfed early Christmas morning. Only hours earlier, 22-year-old Tizita Abdrazak, also known by friends and family as Destiny, was celebrating the holiday with her boyfriend and his family.
“We had hot cocoa. We watched Elf, with Will Ferrell, we watched that movie,” said boyfriend James Isom. “We sat by the fire, we had s’mores, we did the holiday stuff you do in movies. We were having a great time.”
He says once they were ready to sleep, Destiny was the one who saw the smoke at 2 a.m.
“She asked me.. ‘Why is the door smoking?’ I will never forget it,” said Isom. “When I opened my door, the Christmas tree was on fire and the flames were to the ceiling and I panicked.”
He tried to fight the fire with cups of water, then a hose from his neighbor, but the flames spread too fast.
“There wasn’t much time to do anything. We needed firefighters with water and gear and helmets. I was in my underwear, you know, it was two in the morning,” said Isom.
He says he and four other members of his family were only able to escape thanks to Destiny’s warning.
“[I believe] 100% with all my heart [Destiny saved lives.] Without her, it would have been [six] people burned to death, suffocated and burned to death, on the news without her,” said Isom. “It was insane.”
The Isom family feels indebted forever to the woman who warned them about the fire but didn’t make it out herself.
Sacramento Metro Fire officials rescued her from the fire and took her to the hospital in critical condition where she later died from her injuries.
Now she’s remembered as a hero.
“She was the sweetest girl you could ever meet. She was a star. She was so bright and loving and kind,” said Isom. “Everybody is just trying to be strong and keep her in our thoughts and prayers every moment because it's not easy. It's not easy and I know it's a long fight, but Destiny, she's my hero.”
Now the family says she will honor her memory by passing on the tragic lessons they’ve learned first hand about safety.
Isom says he plans to create a non profit called “Destiny’s House” to honor his girlfriend’s life with the goal to put fire extinguishers and smoke detectors in every home to help save others.
Sacramento Metro Fire says they will be doing a "smoke detector blitz" in the neighborhood around 9 a.m., Saturday Jan. 14.
A GoFundMe was set up to help with hospital and funeral costs and can be found HERE.
