Four rescued from house fire

PLEASANT TOWNSHIP - Alan Roberts almost ran into his burning home Sunday night before he realized his fiancée, Rochelle Adams, and their three children had made it out safely.

They might not have without two men who did run inside, kicking a door open to do so, when they saw the house was on fire from the road.

Roberts said he knew one of the men was Matt Franklin and the other was named Rick, but he had little else about him.

"To me, they were angels, I don't know how else to explain it," Roberts said.

At around 8 p.m., he had left to check on his mother and started a movie for the children, ages 7, 5 and 1. He was stopping at a convenience store shortly after 8:30 p.m. when Adams called him.

She dozed off, he said, and woke up to Franklin and the other man running in, telling them all to get out of the house. They passed the house on Marion Cardington Road West and saw the flames, then pulled over and tried to alert those inside through the door.

When they saw children playing in the house, Pleasant Township Fire Captain Kalub Patterson said, the two men broke down the front door to make entry as the flames were on the opposite side. It's human nature to try to help in an emergency, Patterson said, but this "took an act of courage."

"The fire stayed small, containment was made to prevent further damage and there was no loss of life. In an unfortunate situation, that's the best outcome that one can ask," Patterson said.

While Roberts and his family have been dealing with what happened, the two men who ran in haven't been far from his mind.

"It takes a special kind of man to do what (Franklin) did," he said.

He hopes to contact the two to repay them, and he already talked to Franklin through a Facebook post the rescuer made about the incident after mutual friends directed Roberts to it.

Franklin said he was only doing what anyone else would have done, Roberts said. But he disagreed, saying he saw many cars driving past the home as he worked to contain the flames before firefighters showed up.

Damage to the house was estimated at $25,000 by fire officials.

Attempts to reach Franklin or the other man for comment were unsuccessful Monday.

shickey@marionstar.com

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