Roofing contractors with Call Me Roofing Inc. in Winnipeg, Canada, were working late on a roofing project when they saw smoke coming from a nearby home, followed by the screams of children.
According to a story from CBC News, the crew ran to the nearby home to find it engulfed in flames. A man was attempting to break out a basement window to escape. One of the roofers, Caylib Cote, grabbed a hatchet and smashed the window, and the crew pulled at least two children and the man out of the burning home.
“It was a very close call for sure, getting them out of that small window,” Aaron Gosselin, an installer and safety supervisor with Call Me Roofing, told CBC.
Two older children reportedly escaped from the home on their own. According to a Facebook post from the roofing company, the crew took the family to the other side of the street and treated them as best they could until paramedics arrived. Other crew members knocked on the doors of neighboring homes to make sure they could get out in case the fire spread. CBC reported the fire had spread to a second home as firefighters battled the blaze.
Five individuals were taken to hospitals in stable condition, according to a press release from the City of Winnepeg. No other injuries were reported. Gosselin said he and his crew weren’t thinking about their own safety at the time, and were more concerned about helping the family.
“We are very proud of our crew who risked [their] lives to help others,” the company said on Facebook.
The roofing company has received nothing but love on social media, with people hailing them as heroes. Gosselin told CBC that his father, Doug, had been roofing for 25 years. He recently passed away, but Gosselin said he knew his father would have done the same thing.
“I know he’s proud,” he told CBC.