19-year-old Cole Hodsdon and 18-year Ben Sawyer had what was supposed to be an ordinary night turn into something they'll never forget.
On April 5th, the two friends were returning home from the gym in Alliston when they witnessed a small amount of smoke coming from a home on Tupper Street.
Cole says they immediately pulled over, and Ben wasted no time alerting the people in the house.
"Ben hopped out of the car before I was even parked and started banging on the door," Cole remembers.
A few moments later, a man opened the door, and the two teens told him the situation.
Photo courtesy of Michael Chorney from At the Scene Photography
At this point, Cole says there was a good amount of smoke in the home, and they saw an elderly woman sitting in the living room coughing as the smoke quickly intensified.
The man who opened the door returned to the house, calling for his dog, and Ben saw the woman trying to get up from her chair.
Cole explains, "Ben took off his shirt, put it over his mouth, went into the fire, and went up to her. She was a little confused and reluctant to go. He told her everything would be okay, but we've got to go. So he put his t-shirt over her mouth so she wasn't inhaling smoke, and he got her out."
Once she and the man were out, 911 was called, and fire crews arrived on the scene within a few minutes.
Cole says he realizes what it means when it's said smoke is the most dangerous part of a fire.
"No word of a lie; with me being around that smoke for 20 seconds, you could feel it in your chest. And Ben described it as ' pins and needles in your chest.' It's just so scary."
According to media reports, no one hurt, but sadly some family pets were lost in the fire.
"When we gave the police our statements, the officer said, 'What you guys did was dumb, but we're glad you did it because if you hadn't, that woman might not be alive right now,'" Cole says.
He continues, "I think it was one of those moments where there's not really time to hesitate. It's just something you got to take action on."
Looking back on it, he says it's scary to think how things could have turned out if just a few things had gone differently that night.
While coming home from the gym, Cole was originally going to drop Ben off at his girlfriend's house, but they had to double back to his home to grab the dinner he forgot.
If they hadn't returned that route, they would never have seen the smoke and the outcome could be much different.
The two friends now share the bonding experience.
Cole explains, "We met through my marketing work; then we started going to the gym together and became buddies, and then we got to a stage of running into a fire," he laughs.
feature images of Ben Sawyer (18) left- Cole Hodsdon (19) right courtesy of "At the Scene Photography"
