By Daniella Segura
Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.)
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — Deputies rushed to save children trapped in the backyard of their home that was engulfed in flames, a Colorado sheriff’s office says.
Deputies Ryan McConnell and Chris Calderon arrived at a Centennial home after getting a report of a fire just before noon on Dec. 1, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Basically, anywhere there was a hole in the house, there was smoke coming out of it,” McConnell said in a video shared on X. “As soon as I got near the house, I could hear the kids screaming. My first thought was they were still inside.”
Calderon told KMGH the smoke emanating from the blaze would make it “hard to believe anyone could survive that.”
“And fortunately, we were able to hear the kids in the backyard,” Calderon told the outlet.
Unable to get to the backyard because of a blocked gate, the deputies raced to a neighbor’s home, the sheriff’s office said.
Body camera footage shows the deputies rush toward a plywood fence.
“Hey,” Calderon says. “Come over this way! Kids!”
Calderon tells McConnell they should break the fence so the children can get through, the video shows.
The children can be heard screaming.
“Hold on, sweetie,” Calderon yells.
While McConnell climbs the fence, Calderon uses his hands to tear plywood away to make a hole in the fence.
The first child makes it through to McConnell, the video shows.
“Come here. Come here,” Calderon says, as he coaxes the child to make their way through the hole in the fence.
McConnell carries the other child toward the fence.
“My room’s on fire,” the child says.
“Come on, bubba,” Calderon says.
McConnell hands Calderon the child through the hole in the fence, saying, “I’m going pass you to my buddy, OK?”
“Hi, buddy!” the child says.
“Come on,” Calderon says. “Let’s go over here.”
“My room’s on fire,” the child says again.
“I know, baby,” Calderon says. “I know.”
The deputies help the children make it to the street, where firefighters can be seen battling the blaze.
The children told deputies no one else was inside the home, according to the sheriff’s office.
“I’m just happy that there was nobody else in the house that got caught in the flames,” McConnell said. “The smoke was so thick that there was no way that we would have been able to get in there.”
Paramedics treated the deputies on scene for smoke inhalation, the sheriff’s office said.
The children’s mother, Renee Unruh, told KCNC she “couldn’t let them go” when she was reunited with them.
“I don’t ever want to be apart from them,” she told the outlet.
McConnell said “it was a good feeling” to rescue the children.
“I’m so blessed that (the deputies) were here. And they made the initiative — no matter what — to get my kids,” Unruh told KCNC.
Firefighters are investigating the cause of the blaze, deputies said.
Centennial is about a 15-mile drive southeast from Denver.
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