Stranger Wakes up 4 Siblings, Saves Them From Iowa House Blaze

Efthymis Oraiopoulos
By Efthymis Oraiopoulos
November 1, 2022US News
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Stranger Wakes up 4 Siblings, Saves Them From Iowa House Blaze
The Lehman Family. (Screenshot/GoFundme)

Four sleeping siblings are lucky to be alive after a stranger alerted them late at night that their Red Oak, Iowa home was on fire.

The house belonged to Tender Lehman, and inside were her four children who are 8, 14, 17, and 22 years of age.

Tender was not home at the time and is now grateful that Brendon Birt alerted her kids that the home was ablaze on Oct. 23, reported ABC affiliate KETV.

Birt was driving on the night in question and took a wrong turn that led him to see the house on fire. He exited his car and went to the burning house and began yelling “fire” and pounding on windows in an effort to awaken anyone inside.

His efforts were successful, and the four siblings were woken up.

A Ring doorbell video caught the moments when the three younger children escaped the burning house, followed by the 22-year-old brother Bryce Harrison.

“Every second that was going by was just getting worse,” Birt said, according to KETV.

“They came out the door [and] I just felt like I just wanted to break down and cry,” he added.

Harrison said he saw “an oven of heat and flames on the front wall” when he woke up.

“Everything was just black in the living room,” his younger brother Christopher Lehman said.

The house smoke detector did not work.

Their mother, Tender, was out of town in Montana for a family emergency.

When she returned home and met Birt, she said, “I’m so incredibly grateful. My kids wouldn’t have made it, man.”

The family lost five pet dogs in the fire, while two managed to survive.

The house was “a loss” according to the KETV report. The cause of the fire remains unknown, and the Red Oak Fire Department is investigating.

A GoFundMe page has been created to help the family move forward after their loss.

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