KINGSTON, Pa. — A call came into Luzerne County 911 Saturday afternoon for a fire on Chester Street in Kingston.
Officer Matthew Bonawits was around the corner when the call came in and was the first to respond. When he did, bystanders told him there was a child still inside the burning home.
"I made entry through the front door of the residence and located the child on the first floor of the residence," explained Bonawits.
Ofc. Bonawits and the child made it out safely.
"And then that's when I got outside, and they said, 'There's another one.' And at that point, is when I tried again to make it up the stairs, but conditions really deteriorated at that point," added Bonawits.
Then, members of the Kingston Forty Fort Fire Department arrived. The father was able to direct first responders to the bedroom window where he knew his child was located.
"Myself and Ofc. Bonawits threw a ladder to the bedroom window," said Assistant Fire Chief Floyd Young with the Kingston Forty Fort Fire Department. "I hopped in; I found the child right at the base of the window. He was crying. I picked him up; I handed him to Ofc. Bonawits, which took him down the ladder."
First responders tell Newswatch 16 that there are two very important lessons that can be learned by what took place over the weekend and how the lives of two children were able to be saved.
The first is about accountability.
"The father knowing and being able to point out specifically which bedroom that child in was in saved so much resources and time where it was imperative," said Bonawits.
"What really helped the child survivability was his bedroom door was closed. Right outside the bedroom door, the walls were as black as tar, the heat was very high, and there was fire. That door protected that little boy and gave us enough time to get there," added Young.
Both departments also credit teamwork to the rescue and knocking the fire out quickly afterward.
There is a GoFundMe set up for the family to help them bounce back from the fire. You can learn more here.