RI Honeymooners Save Babies From Burning Nursery in Spain

Oct. 14, 2022
After carrying the babies to safety, the Bristol couple continued their sightseeing.

A Bristol couple is being hailed heroes after they stumbled upon a fire at a nursery while on their honeymoon in Barcelona, Spain.

David Squillante and Doran Smith got married in fall 2020, but explained that they never got to go on a proper honeymoon due to the pandemic.

To celebrate their two-year anniversary, the pair planned a trip to Spain. A few days in, they were walking down the street when they noticed a commotion.

Smith got her phone out to record the action, but quickly pocketed it when she saw exactly what was happening.

Squillante immediately rushed cribs full of young children outside to safety.

“I just noticed that there were a bunch of babies sleeping in cots,” Squillante told WPRI. “They were ranging in age from newborns to 3 years old.”

The couple joined the nursery workers in helping to rescue the children. Additional strangers on the street also jumped into action.

“Dave would hand me a baby, I would hand it to someone else,” Smith said. “I ended up holding one across the street, and we ended up hanging one to a guy with a broken arm.”

“It was just … in the moment everyone just wanted to help,” she continued. “Even though we didn’t speak the same language, we knew everyone was there to help these babies.”

Thankfully, the nearly two-dozen children all got out safely.

“It doesn’t feel real at all,” Squillante said, looking back on the ordeal. “Every time I tell [the story], I’m like, ‘did that really happen?'”