SCOTTSBURG, Ind. (WDRB) — A mother and son in southern Indiana are recounting the events when they saw their neighbor's house on fire and rushed to save a teenager with special needs who was inside.
On Aug. 17, a house in Scottsburg caught on fire. Just down the street 9-year-old Ezekial Young saw the smoke and got curious.
"I thought they were having a bonfire or something like that, and then I walked up there and their whole back porch was in flames," Ezekial said.
That's when he ran to his own house and told his mom what was happening. His mom, Tasha Young, called the owners of the house who told her their 14-year-old son with special needs was in the house.
"When she told me he was in there and the police department said they knocked on the door and everything, I said 'well I'm going in to get him,'" Tasha said.
Keshia Reno, the owner of the home, said her and her partner were only gone for 30 minutes, picking up groceries for dinner when they got the call.
"The first thing I could think of is, 'Kenneth's inside, can you get him out,'" Reno said.
Tasha immediately jumped into action. Reno said she's glad Ezekial saw the fire and knew what to do in that moment.
"Definitely grateful for kids playing, kids' curiosity because that's what brought him over to notice that it was something major," Reno said.
Ezekial is part of the Scott County Young Marines organization which teaches kids about the importance of good citizenship and community service.
"It was pretty great, a 9-year-old having quick actions like that," Tasha said.
Reno said their entire porch was damaged, and they lost thousands of dollars' worth of tools and other things, but she's grateful it wasn't worse.
"There's plenty of valuable things in there along that side wall, is all of his important medical documentations and all of his pictures through his life, so we could've lost that, and we could've lost him," Reno said.
They still don't know what caused the fire, and they're working to replace all the things they lost.
Reno said they do have a GoFundMe to help with some of the replacements. You can find that by clicking the link here.
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