- A group of New York high school students rescued a family from their burning home while heading home from prom on May 17, according to local media reports
- Dramatic video footage captured the brave rescue as the teenagers alerted the family to their garage fire
- The students said they “didn’t think twice” about jumping to the family’s rescue, per WKTV
A group of teenagers in New York have been hailed as heroes after helping save a family from their home after their garage caught fire.
Whitesboro High School students Aiden Kane, Morgan Randall, Donato Jellenichr and Tyler Sodj were heading home from their junior prom on May 17 when they spotted a family’s garage on fire in Marcy and immediately leapt into action to rescue them, according to local media outlet Observer-Dispatch.
“We left the prom a little early because to go to One Genny [in New Hartford],” Kane told the outlet. “We got a few appetizers with our friends before heading to Donato’s house to get changed out of our prom clothes. And on the way, [my girlfriend] Morgan saw [the garage] burning.”
The teenagers didn’t think twice about lending their assistance.
“Everyone jumped out of the car,” Kane told the outlet. “Donato immediately called 911, Tyler ran towards the garage to check it out and I ran up to the door and started pounding on it.”
In footage recorded by the group, per Observer-Dispatch, Kane is seen knocking on the door of the family’s home next to the raging fire. A few seconds later, a young girl runs down the stairs and answers the door.
“Your house is on fire!” Kane tells the family, to which she replies, “I know, my dad’s calling the police,” as screams from young children can be heard in the background from inside the house.
“You’ve got to get out,” says Kane. One of the teenagers is next heard telling the distressed family while leaving the house, “You’re okay, hey, you’re okay. Just walk over here. Come here, come here!”
A man who appears to be the children’s father is then seen running out to join them. Kane tells him the children are “over by my car.” He then asks the man if anyone else is in the house, to which he replies, “No!”
As Kane looked after the family, Donato called 911 and Sodj checked out the burning garage, Observer-Dispatch reported.
“I slammed and knocked on the door and there was two little girls and a dad,” Kane told local media outlet WKTV. “I grabbed the girls, ran them across the street to where my girlfriend comforted them, because they were really upset.”
Sodj told WKTV that the fire “sounded almost like gunshots popping.”
“Something clearly exploded and the fire got pushed out pretty far,” he told the outlet. “So if Aiden didn’t go up there and get those people out, I think that the fire could have spread.”
Sodj added that the group “didn’t think twice” about rescuing the family.
Maynard Fire Chief Jared Pearl told the New York Post, “If they didn’t do this, if they didn’t get everyone out and call 911, it may have been three to four minutes before we got there. And by then, the house would have been fully involved.”