“I just knew I had to act quick,” Brendon Birt, a passerby, said that he pounded on the door and yelled until the four siblings, ages 22, 17, and 8, awoke from their slumber and ran out.
Sometimes, taking the wrong exit will lead you to the right destination.
KETV, an affiliate of ABC, said that Brendon Birt was driving down a road in Red Oak, Iowa, when he took a mistaken turn and just so happened to be in front of a family’s home on fire.
Birt told the outlet: “I just felt like somebody was in there. I just knew I had to act quick.”
It turned out that there were four siblings sleeping inside, and according to them, the only reason they woke up was because they heard him yelling and banging on the door from outside. The smoke detectors in the house had failed to activate, so that was the only thing that woke them up.
Tender Lehman explained to KETV that she was attending to a family matter in Montana at the time of the blaze, and that the children’s older brother, who is 22 years old, was staying at the house with them.
According to a GoFundMe account that was established to assist the family in recovering from the fire, the ages of the other children were 17, 14, and 8.
The footage from the Ring doorbell camera caught the moment when the three younger siblings fled out of the house simultaneously. A short while later, the 22-year-old managed to flee the burning building.
According to the GoFundMe, which had received more than $9,000 as of Monday afternoon, the family’s home, their valuables, and two of their five dogs did not survive the fire. The fundraising page was created after the incident.
Despite this, the family feels an overwhelming sense of gratitude that they were able to escape with seconds to spare.
In an interview with KETV, Lehman said: “My kids wouldn’t have made it. They’re safe because of him.”