MARCY, NY—Two sets of twins are being hailed as heroes after they smelled smoke driving down a road, found the house on fire and alerted the people sleeping inside to get out.
"They really went above and beyond,'' said Whitesboro Fire Chief George Massaroti. “Their quick thinking saved everyone’s life in that house—I am quite sure of that.”
Last week, fraternal twins Domenick and Angelo Camerota, who are 17, were driving with their lifelong friends—identical twins Jacob and Jordan Ryan, who are 19—for a late-night snack at a nearby Taco Bell.
All four are volunteer firefighters—the Ryans for Whitesboro and the Camerotas for Yorkville fire departments.
It all started a little before 1 a.m. Friday.
"We smelled something, and we all looked at each other,'' Angelo Camerota said in a phone interview Wednesday night.
"We know the smell of a structure fire,'' said Domenick Camerota. “House fires have a distinct smell. So we drove around looking for it, and then saw this glow on the top of a garage. We could see smoke and flames.”
The house on fire was on Linda Drive in Marcy.
The four jumped out of the truck and ran to the front door, pounding on the door, the windows and ringing the doorbell.
After a couple minutes, the three occupants—a couple and a friend—came to the door. They didn’t know the house was on fire, Domenick Camerota said.
The smoke was confined to the attic, but the attic and rooftop were on fire. The homeowner was able to back his truck out of the garage, the four said, but everything else in the garage was lost.
The four said the homeowners had a smoke detector in a hallway, but it hadn’t alerted them to the smoke in the attic. The three occupants and two dogs got out safely, and the teens called 9-1-1. They then joined in with the firefighting efforts, containing the fire and then putting out hot spots throughout the rest of the night.
Christopher Johnson thanked the four a few days later, hugging them and thanking them for their selflessness, according to WKTV.
The four said they don’t consider themselves heroes, but are so happy they could help.
"It was pretty scary; I have never rolled up on a fire I wasn’t dispatched to before,'' Angelo Camerota said.
Jacob Ryan, who works at Turning Stone Casino with his brother, said firefighting is in all the teen’s blood as their families are all involved as volunteers.
"I know it could have been a lot worse if we weren’t there,'' Jordan Ryan said.
Jordan Ryan said the four didn’t hesitate.
"We knew we had to help,'' he said.
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