Junior firefighters are trained to assist when needed.
When two teens saw one of their own fall 10 feet from an attic they stepped in to help.
Now months after that brave rescue the two North Middletown teens are being honored. These two teens don't like to think of themselves as heroes, but to many that's just what they are.
"I never dreamed I would have to rely on them." said North Middletown Fire Chief, Jeff McFarland.
It was May 8th and Fire Chief Jeff McFarland was responding to a fire in this North Middletown home.
Along with him, two junior firefighters who happened to be his son Wes and nephew Hunter.
That routine fire quickly turned into a rescue.
"I saw him fall and then I knew we had to get him out because he wasn't moving he wasn't walking," said Hunter McFarland, Jeff's nephew.
And that's just what the two teenagers did, they pulled McFarland from the house. What they didn't know was that he was suffering from a broken back and elbow. Wes watched in horror as his dad lay before him.
"I was hoping he would keep breathing and that the ambulance would hurry up and get there," said Wes McFarland, Jeff's son.
Now seven months after rescuing one of their own, these two are being hailed as heroes, even if that's not the label they choose.
"I would never have expected it from anybody, I mean I'd do it all over again the same I guess," said Hunter.
But to this fellow firefighter, they went above and beyond the call, even if to one he is dad and the other an uncle.
"Yes they are. I don't know how long it would have been before the other people on the fire ground that was busy doing other jobs with the fire would have been able to get to me to help me," said Jeff McFarland.
Both Wes and Hunter were presented with plaques honoring their efforts.
The two plan on pursuing the job in the future. For now they are concerned with finishing high school.
