Heart-pounding bodycam footage captures the moments two Colorado deputies jumped into action to save two children from a raging house fire this week.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office released footage showing deputies Ryan McConnell and Chris Calderon racing to the front door of a burning home in Centennial around noon on Sunday before firefighters arrived.
They shout, “Sheriff’s office!” and McConnell radios to note that there is “thick black smoke coming from the front door.”
Unable to enter the backyard through a blocked gate, the deputies were able to gain access through a neighbor’s home and “tore down part of the wood fence with their hands,” the sheriff’s office said.
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Hearing the children, ages 14 and 8, crying for help, the deputies started yelling for them to come to the side of the home, video shows.
“Let’s hop this fence. Let’s break this fence down so we can get the kids out,” Calderon said.
McConnell climbed over the fence, as Calderon pulled off panels by hand to make for an opening to pull the children through.
“Hold on sweetie,” Calderon shouted to the girl, who cried that the younger boy was too big for her to help alone.
Calderon helped the girl climb through the fence opening, as McConnell carried the boy, who was crying, “My room’s on fire, my room’s on fire.”
“I’m going to pass you to my buddy, OK?” McConnell told the boy.
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“My room is on fire,” the boy repeated. Calderon responded, “I know, baby, I know.”
The boy, who was then barefoot on the snow-covered ground, fled with the deputy, who picked him back up.
That’s when the firetruck arrived with its sirens blaring. Calderon yelled to the girl to stay out of the street. The video ended with a shot of firefighters at the front of the home, as black smoke billowed from it.
The sheriff’s office said both deputies suffered from smoke inhalation and were treated at the scene by paramedics.
“Today we want to thank you both for your bravery in the face of danger,” the sheriff’s office said.
“It was a good feeling getting them out of there, especially knowing that they were so young,” McConnell said in an interview at the scene shared by the department. “I’m just happy there was nobody else in the house that got caught in the flames. And the smoke was so thick there was no way we would have been able to get in there anyway.”
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