"We would have suffocated." Rock band from Kildare save five children in US house fire
The members of a rock band and their management team from Co. Kildare and Co. Longford have been hailed as heroes after saving over a dozen people including four children and a baby from a house fire in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the US.
Hard rock band Dissension Rising, who hail from Naas, sprang to action when a blaze took hold of the house they were staying in with friends.
When they left the house safely they, along with their manager and driver, heard the sound of screams from the house’s basement apartment where four adults and five children were trapped.
“It was getting hard to see and breathe but once we knew we had everyone who was in the house downstairs we ran out,” said the band’s driver Justin Carroll.
“But we didn't realise there was another family who lived in the basement until Danni [singer, 18] shouted she could hear screams.
“Danni and Keith [guitarist, 21] ran around the back of the house followed by myself and Mr. Vasquez [the father of the family who lived upstairs].
“We could hear screaming. There were flames at the rear of the house coming through the walls.
“We were met by a woman carrying a child. Danni asked if anyone else was in the house and she said, ‘Yes, the kids are in there’.
“There was panic inside the apartment, which was quickly filling with smoke.
“A policeman had just arrived on the scene and the officer, Mr. Vasquez and myself started getting people out of there and handing them over to Danni, Keith, Kian [drummer, 17] and Rob [guitarist, 20], who guided the women with babies and children to the car.
“They were in shock and the babies were crying. Rob and Kian stayed with them. It was chaos.”
The blaze took 27 firefighters to get it under control in just under two hours. Thankfully no one was hurt, although the house is now “destroyed” after sustaining a reported $400,000 worth of damage.
The band, who are in New Jersey as part of their US tour, are now set to donate the proceeds from band merchandise at a special fundraising gig taking place in Atlantic City.
“Again, I will thank everyone who has been helping us through this time,” mum Fabiana Vasquez said on the family’s GoFundMe page. “But I especially want to thank Dissension Rising for saving our lives. If the drummer didn't get up around 5:30 in the morning to warn us all the way up to the third floor, we would have suffocated from the smoke in our sleep.”
True heroes indeed.