New York teens left prom early — and found themselves in a life-or-death race to save a family
Prom night is a rite of passage for many teenagers as it catapults them into adulthood. However, for a group of teens from New York, prom night was something much bigger. They had left the prom early because they had someplace to be, but on their way, one of them spotted glowing flames close to a house. Soon enough, they found out that a family's garage was on fire and completely covered in flames. The group had to think quickly and act fast to ensure that they could get the family out of the house, per PEOPLE.
The group, Aiden Kane, Morgan Randall, Tyler Sodj and Donato Jellenich, noticed the garage fire in a Whitesboro house and decided to do something to save the family, per Observer Dispatch. "We left the prom a little early to go to One Genny [in New Hartford]. 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, Morgan saw [the garage] burning. None of us would have seen it if it weren’t for her," Kane recounted. They turned their car and went to the house in Marcy to check on the people there. "Everyone jumped out of the car. 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," Kane narrated.
One of them recorded footage of the house on fire and it could be seen that Kane was standing and knocking on the family's door and saying, "Your house is on fire!" Kane told them when a little girl came down to open the door for him. "I know, my dad’s calling the police," she responded. Kane told the family that they had to get out of the house right then and there. "You're okay, hey, you're okay. Just walk over here. Come here, come here!" one of them said as the family members started leaving the house one after another. The kid's dad came out soon after that and Kane told him that his children were by his car. They confirmed if anyone else was in the house and the dad reassured them that everyone was out.
"I slammed and knocked on the door and there were two little girls and a dad. I grabbed the girls, ran them across the street to where my girlfriend comforted them, because they were really upset," Kane told WKTV. Sodj remembered that the fire sounded like gunshots popping. "Something clearly exploded and the fire got pushed out pretty far. So if Aiden didn't go up there and get those people out, I think that the fire could have spread," he continued. The group didn't think too much before they decided to get the family out.
"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," Jared Pearl, Maynard Fire Chief, told the New York Post. Soon enough, the local fire officers came to the spot and got the blaze under control. The department was really proud of the group's courage and quick thinking. The family expressed their gratitude for the group, per CBS Miami.