Sometimes heroes wear hard hats instead of capes.
When construction workers John Lewis, Gabe Record, and Damian Pond spotted smoke pouring from a house in Glenwood, Iowa, they didn’t hesitate. “I stopped there at the stop sign, I looked to my right for traffic and I seen smoke coming out of the front porch window,” recalled John Lewis, general manager at Leick Construction.
The men rushed inside, pulling a mother, grandmother, and 4-year-old girl to safety. But then came a terrifying moment, “When it exploded, it blew flames out toward the back of Gabe and burned him on his back and on his arm. And got Damian on the side of the face,” said Lewis.
Outside, neighbor and mechanic John Vandevoorde spotted the teenage boy trapped upstairs. “Once I saw him, I knew what was happening and he was in trouble. Big trouble,” Vandevoorde said.
The workers couldn’t reach him, until Lewis spotted an unusual rescue tool in the yard. “I looked over and seen a trampoline, so I grabbed the trampoline, pulled it out of the ground and started dragging it to the window,” he said.
With the house filling with smoke, the boy had no choice but to leap. The crew shouted for him to jump, and he did. “He hit the trampoline and I caught him and got him out over here to the stop sign,” said Lewis.
The Leick Construction employees were treated for burns and are expected to recover. Glenwood Fire Chief Matt Gray called their actions nothing short of heroic: “I mean, they’re heroes. This could have been a totally different outcome if they wouldn’t have stepped up and done what they did.”
The family made it out safe but lost their home in the fire. One family member, Ben McGhee, shared the heartbreaking reality: he feels “really defeated” and is worried about finding housing.
Chief Gray says the brave employees of Leick Construction will be honored at a later date, but to the family they saved, they’re already legends.
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