Neighbors help rescue family from burning home after lightning strike in Coon Rapids
COON RAPIDS, Minn. – A Coon Rapids family was forced to make a dramatic escape from their burning home Thursday.
Fire officials say a lightning strike sparked the flames. Two people may not have made it out if it weren't for quick-thinking neighbors.
"When I walked through the kitchen door, I seen my whole wall was on fire," said Barb Carlin.
Carlin's daughter, Nikki, heard her mother yelling there was a fire.
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"I jumped out of bed and I went in the hallway was all full of smoke," Nikki Carlin said. "My heart was just like, 'Oh my God, what's happening?'"
The Carlins say lightning struck their satellite dish, which started the fire. Barb Carlin's son, Brian, was upstairs and broke a window to get onto the roof.
The 9-year-old boy playing outside next door ran to his grandma, Rhoda DeJong, to call 911.
"I saw the smoke, and then I heard Brian yell, 'I need a ladder!'" DeJong said.
She and another neighbor walking past didn't hesitate. They grabbed two ladders out of DeJong's garage.
"It was a little bit like a mission to make sure people are safe," DeJong said.
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"[The man] came over and pulled me out and helped me," Barb Carlin said. "Then he went back in the house and got a ladder and got my son out. Otherwise, I don't think either one of us would be here if it wouldn't be for him."
Sadly, the family dog, Daisy, didn't make it, and they're heartbroken. But they recognize how much more tragic this story could've been.
"This is the one thing you fear is a fire and not being able to get out," Nikki Carlin said.
The Carlins say they're lifted by the generosity of family and friends, who have given them clothes and food.