LIVONIA (WWJ) - Officials in Metro Detroit are praising the heroic work of a group of teens who saved two people from a house fire in Livonia.
City officials said the three high schoolers — identified as Ethan Morche, Chase Adams and Colin Anderson — jumped into action on Monday, Aug. 29, after spotting smoke and flames while driving down Ellen Drive.
"We saw fire coming out of the chimney and smoke coming out of the shingles and we kind of thought it was a weird time to have fire going," Morche, 15, told WWJ Newsradio 950's Sandra McNeill.
The young men immediately called 9-1-1, but didn't want to wait for firefighters to arrive.
Morche said as he approached the house, he heard yelling inside. He managed to find an open back screen door and he and Adams entered to find a man and a woman inside.
Anderson stayed outside to tell fire crews that there were people in the house.
"Why would you you wanna wait? Like, you're gonna wait another two minutes and it's gonna spread more, and they're not able to get out," Morche said. "I mean, that's just worse for them and they could die due to smoke inhaling."
Adams was able to help one of the occupants outside before he went back into the house to help Morche bring out the second resident.
Fire Chief Robert Jennison believes that the man and woman in the house were just minutes from death.
"These brave young men — instead of just pulling out their phones and taking a video of a house on fire — they had the forethought to use those phones what they should have been used for, which call 9-1-1," Jennison said. "Then they took action and they made a difference. They saved two lives."
The teen and the two residents were attended by medics at the scene and released from care with minor smoke inhalation.
"We couldn't be more proud of these young men who remained calm, did the right thing, and were directly responsible for saving the lives of two of their neighbors,” Jennison said.
The group's heroic actions were caught on a Wyze Video Doorbell that was set up at a neighbor's house across the street.
All three teens are students at Churchill High School in Livonia.