Rescues in Cleveland, OH

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) – Neighbors are calling three Cleveland firefighters heroes after they rescued two young children from a burning home.

The rescue happened by chance.

Firefighters were driving to pick up another crew member when they spotted a house on fire on East 93rd Street.

They rushed over to help without any back up as they called the fire into dispatch.

“I would call it pure luck because we were just driving down St. Clair,” said firefighter Rich Petras.

Neighbors were screaming that there were children stuck inside.

“They were like, ‘get in there and get those kids.’ And they didn’t realize that we were out of position and not properly dressed to go into a fire,” said Kenneth Guyton, the battalion chief.

Once they geared up and entered the duplex, firefighters could hear one of the kids yelling from upstairs.

“We were able to lay our lines down, knock the fire out quickly and find the young man,” said Lt. Ron Vargo.

“You act on what’s given to you. We were just looking out for the boy upstairs,” said firefighter David Shantery.

At the same time, Kenneth Guyton found an eight-year-old girl lying in the bushes next to the house.

She had jumped about 30 feet from an upstairs window and broken her leg.

Neighbors were happy to see firefighters find the children alive.

“After they got the first girl out they started clapping, and when we got the boy out they clapped even more. So I guess we did our job that night,” Guyton said.

Fire officials say the 10-year-old boy is in a coma and still recovering at Metro Health Medical Center.

At a time when every second counts, these firefighters didn’t hesitate to jump in. But they insist they were just doing their jobs.

“They heroes, they heroes. They got the kids out of there,” said Charles Wiley, a neighbor.

A woman and another child escaped the fire before firefighters made it there.

The firefighters will be getting commendations from the fire department.

Fire officials are still investigating the cause of the fire.

About Author

countyfiretactics

Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.

Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.

He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.

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