WARREN — An Army veteran walking his service dog alongside his fiancee spotted a nearby home in flames and quickly rushed to assist.
Colton Trent, 34, of Mahoning Avenue said he and his fiancee heard screams coming from the home in the 500 block of Freeman Street around 11 p.m. Wednesday. Not thinking much of it initially — the screams turned to frantic chants of children screaming, “Fire!”
Seeing the flames growing, Trent hopped in his car and jetted to the source.
“The little children were out front, and they were trying to walk back into the house,” Trent said. “I told him to back up and then I asked him if there was anyone in the house. They said that their sister and mom were upstairs and that they were trapped.”
Trent said he could sense the fear of the children, afraid they might lose their mother and sister.
Quickly trying to figure out a way to the upstairs where the mother and daughter were trapped, Trent said he attempted to use an outside set of stairs leading to the upper part of the home.
However, Trent said the top stairs had begun catching fire, which he said grew larger once an explosion occurred inside a large dumpster located in the driveway near the home.
“I ran through the inside of the house to find a way upstairs. There was smoke above my head heading toward the kitchen. You know it was getting pretty bad there. But, I was trying to holler to make sure no one was in the lower part of the house and then by the time I came back outside, there was the first police officer on scene,” Trent said.
Trent and the officer then went through the home together, exiting out of a back door where they encountered the oldest daughter and mother on the back left side of the home, seeking refuge from the fire on the roof.
“Thankfully, we got a ladder from the next door neighbor and put it up against the house. And the cop called the firefighters (using his radio) to try to get him there quicker. And once he got done with that he climbed up the ladder to help get them down,” Trent said.
Reflecting on what made him step up to help, Trent credited how he was raised growing up around police officers and firefighters. His mother was a juvenile probation officer and family violence officer growing up.
Born and raised in Oklahoma, Trent said as a country boy it was how he was raised to help others.
“The way I was raised is you help your neighbor, you rely on your neighbor for everything and I’m not going to sit there and watch a house burn or a car wreck go by and not try to stop and help as much as I can,” Trent said.
The fire came one day before Thanksgiving. Trent and his fiancee were willing to go as far as inviting the family into their apartment to enjoy a home cooked meal, but, fortunately, he said the family was staying with another family member.
“I didn’t want to see a family on the street. I lived on the street for a year when I got back from Iraq and it’s not a pleasant thing. We were just trying to focus and make sure they were gonna be OK,” Trent said.
According to a fire report, multiple first responders arrived on the scene. One fireman was transported to the hospital after suffering minor injuries as a result of the blaze, which the report states was put out by 12:53 a.m.
Ultimately, the home was not able to be salvaged from the fire, displacing the family of about five living at the residence.
The report states the American Red Cross was contacted assist the family.
