Photo: Elizabeth Castaneda / EyeEm / EyeEm / Getty Images
On Friday morning in Cleveland, Ohio, 16-year-old Tyler Sowden rescued a family from a burning home. After hearing screams from his neighbor’s house, he grabbed a ladder from his house and rushed to help. After climbing to the second floor of the home on fire, he helped a woman and her seven-year-old and 10-month-old children safely escape.
“I wasn’t thinking, I just took the ladder and ran,” Sowden recalls. A 12-year-old from the same family had jumped from the roof before the teen arrived. The mother and her children were treated at a hospital but fortunately were not seriously injured. Sowden’s stepfather, Matt Stamber, praised him for acting selflessly and putting others first.
Around 60 firefighters responded to the scene and also rescued an elderly man and his dog from a neighboring home that was grazed by the fire. Cleveland Fire Lieutenant Mike Norman commended the teen’s bravery, calling him heroic and saying, “He saved three lives today.” Norman says he hopes that Snowden might consider joining the fire department when he’s older.
Source: MEN'S JOURNAL