WHITEHALL, Ohio -- Neighbors risked their lives Sunday afternoon to rescue a woman and her 5-year-old grandson from a burning home.
As of Sunday night, the child was on a ventilator at Nationwide Children's Hospital while the grandmother was in serious condition at OSU Medical Center.
Firefighters said they are alive because the neighbors cared enough to risk it all to save them.
Video shot by neighbor Jess Nelson shows the house fire on Westphal Avenue reaching its height, minutes after neighbors reached the height of selflessness.
They risked their lives to save the woman and child.
Smoke from the fire had pushed the two to the floor, just 10 feet away from the front door.
“The entire house was engulfed in black smoke, and then it just started flaming,” said neighbor Gerri Hoelscher, who called 911 to report the fire. “I'm screaming, ‘You cannot go in there in the front door. You will die,’ and they did anyway.”
The child's grandfather made it out on his own and asked for help from neighbor Daniel Sindoni.
Sindoni summoned the courage to enter the burning home with another neighbor and pulled the man's wife and grandson to safety.
“The grandmother and the 5-year-old owe their life to these people deciding to care and get involved,” said Whitehall Fire Chief Tim Tilton. “You always hear stories about people not caring. This is a story where the citizens of Whitehall, and I'm not even sure of their names right now, but they decided to get involved, and they made a huge difference in the lives of these two people and this whole family. Right now, they could be mourning the loss of at least two lives.”
Tilton said the fire appears to have been accidental, but investigators still need to interview the boy before determining a cause.
The fire began in a basement bedroom, on the bed where the 5-year-old had been taking care of several family pets. The pets perished in the fire.
The boy's grandfather said the 5-year-old came upstairs upset but did not say anything.
A few minutes later, the family noticed electrical troubles and the fire broke through the floor.
Tilton said Sindoni and other neighbors will be honored with an award for their bravery at a Whitehall fire department banquet later in the year.
Asked if he considered himself a hero for rescuing the woman and grandchild, Sindoni told NBC 4 that anybody in his position would do the same thing.
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