Bystander rushes into action to save a woman and her dogs in Verona apartment fire
VERONA, Pa. (KDKA) - A bystander is credited with saving lives when a fire tore through an apartment building in Verona.
The fire broke out around 5 p.m. on Thursday night and with no firefighters on the scene yet, Erik Kust rushed inside where he first helped a mother and her child down the steps and then proceeded to bang on the doors.
When he then heard a woman screaming, he rushed back inside.
"[I heard] 'I need help, I need help,'" Kust recalled. "I yelled back, 'I am on my way!'"
Mari Jo Martino recalled the moment that Kust came to her aid.
"All of a sudden, a guy comes out of nowhere and he grabs the big dog, I grabbed the little dog and he took us out and saved our lives," she said.
"It was difficult to see, but we got out of there as quickly as I could," Kust said.
Martino said, in her opinion, it was divine intervention.
No one was ultimately hurt in the fire and the Red Cross is now assisting the seven people who lived inside.
The cause is under investigation, but the crews on the scene said they believed the fire started in the basement.
