A driver who accidentally took a wrong turn saved four people from a burning house in the US state of Iowa.
On October 23, he drove into a street in the city of Red Oak by mistake and accidentally saw a fire break out in the building, Brendon Birt described the incident according to US media. He immediately stopped, got out and banged on the windows on the side of the house. “I just felt like someone was in there because it was so late at night. I just knew I had to act quickly,” quoted US broadcaster Action News Birt. “It got worse with every second that passed.”
Footage from the door camera shows flames spreading across the porch of the house at around 2 a.m., eventually turning into an inferno. The video also shows a car driving down the street, Birt coming to the house and shouting, “There’s a fire. You have to come out! You have to get out!”
According to reports, four siblings aged eight, 14, 17 and 22 were in the house at the time. They were awakened by Birt’s knocking and shouting, and one by one ran out of the building across the burning porch, video shows. “I ran into a furnace of heat and flames against the front wall,” elder Bryce Harrison, who was the last to leave the house, told Action News.
Birt also alerted the Red Oak Fire Department when he arrived. When emergency services arrived at the home, the front of the two-story building was on fire. While the siblings were unharmed, two of the family’s dogs were rescued and five more lost their lives.
The siblings’ mother, Tender Lehman, was reportedly in Montana due to a family emergency when the incident occurred. Her three sons and one daughter were asleep when the fire broke out. The fire alarm in the house was not triggered. “I’m so incredibly grateful. My kids wouldn’t have made it,” Lehman acknowledged Birt’s quick intervention. The house was completely destroyed in the fire, but at least she and her children could carry on together thanks to Birt and a wrong turn.
A blessing after the fire was the support her family received from others in Red Oak, the mother explained. “It was overwhelming, but overwhelming in a way that I’m very grateful for.” The cause of the fire is still unclear.
Sources: Action News, “Des Moines Register”
