Two Montgomery County Brothers Honored For Saving Parents' Lives From December Fire
LOWER MERION, Pa. (CBS) -- Two of Montgomery County's bravest are just 10 and 12 years old. The brothers are being honored for sticking together to save their parents' lives.
It was three days after Christmas when two elementary school brothers saw smoke filtering into their home. Their heroic actions that morning thrust them into the spotlight on Wednesday in front of their classmates.
It was no ordinary day at school for brothers Cooper and Ryder Fiske-Kneafsey.
Both received chief's commendations from the Lower Merion Fire Department in front of their class at Merion Elementary School. They were honored for their heroism and bravery during a fire at their home on the morning of Dec. 28.
"Fire department personnel arrived on location with smoke visible from the rear of the residence. The fire was located in the basement of the residence and was beginning to spread upward before being extinguished by firefighters," Lower Merion Fire Chief Charles McGarvey said.
The brothers -- 10 and 12 years old -- smelled smoke and quickly jumped into action.
"Me and him were in my room and then he smelled smoke. Then we went downstairs and saw the air vent was smoking," Cooper said.
"Smoke was all over the dining room," Ryder said.
They opened the windows and quickly ran to get their mom and dad and beloved dog Sandy. All were able to escape safely thanks to the kids putting their fire prevention knowledge from the school's fire prevention week drills to good use.
"There's like fire drills, tell somebody to go so I remembered that," Cooper said.
"It's been pretty traumatic for all of us, but these guys have been troopers and very proud of them," father Dolan Kneafsey said. "They deserve it."
"It's incredibly sweet and meaningful. This has been an insane couple of months. It's just a nice moment in all of it to have something positive come out of it," mom Amy Fiske said.
The dad says at first he told the kids to just go back to sleep after they tried to tell him about the smoke, thinking it was just coming from the dryer.
He says he's so glad they didn't listen to him this time and they were persistent about getting everyone to safety.
