A 32-year-old Manteca man rescued a family of four from a second-story porch during an apartment fire in the 400 block of Cherry Lane on Thursday morning.

Mike Najera said he was walking along the railroad tracks at Walnut Avenue from the downtown area when he saw black smoke wafting up from behind a concrete sound wall at approximately 9:30 a.m.

Najera jumped the eight-foot wall and started banging on the doors of the apartment building to alert residents to the blaze. He then kicked down a fence board around the patio of the rear unit. He found a dresser nearby and pulled it below a second-floor porch where a family was trapped.

The family hung from the balcony, dropping onto the dresser. One man suffered a knee injury in the escape.

Lathrop and Ripon fire departments assisted Manteca Fire, supplying a 100-foot ladder truck.