DETROIT – A woman heard smoke alarms going off in her neighbor’s home on Elmdale Street in Detroit on Saturday night.
Theotis Morrison called 9-1-1 right away, but she didn’t stop there.
“I discovered there was smoke coming out of the window, and I was bamming on the window, yelling,” the neighbor said.
Detroit firefighters arrived right away thanks to the neighbor’s quick action.
As firefighters entered the burning home they discovered two children were trapped inside a bedroom. Firefighters extracted the 4- and 2-year-old boys, who were badly hurt from the fire.
Both children suffered from severe smoke inhalation and the 4-year-old had burns on his face.
Investigators confirmed that the boys were left home alone when the fire broke out.
“Well, there was a grandmother that was supposed to be watching the kids and she was not home at the time so the two youngsters were by themselves," said Dave Fornell, Deputy Fire Commissioner.
Morrison says she didn’t know that anyone was home because there wasn’t a vehicle in the driveway.
“But I didn’t know the kids were home alone, if I had known that I would have came over with a sledge hammer," Morrison said. "I would have tried to get them out.”
Investigators say that a grandmother lives at the home with the mother of the two kids. Detroit police made contact with the grandmother and mother to find out why they were not at home when the fire broke out.
Arson investigators with the Detroit Fire Department are trying to pinpoint how the fire started.
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