STAFFORD, Va. -- Last summer, the deck to a Stafford, Virginia, townhouse caught fire. To the homeowner’s surprise, they ran outside to find three random boys fighting the flames!
On Tuesday, those Fortnite-dancing heroes received a big honor for their heroics.
Just how important were their actions?
“The decks are all connected and so this one fire could’ve had the whole townhouse structure caught in a matter of minutes” said Norman Carter.
On July 14, Carter says three boys, Miles, Cesar and Deshawn, were riding their bikes around a Fredericksburg-area townhouse neighborhood when someone noticed the ground under a back deck on fire.
Myles Mason is 12.
“The fire was getting bigger and bigger,” said Mason.
WUSA 9 went to the home involved. One of the deck posts is still charred from that fire.
The boys tell WUSA 9 when they saw the flames, they ran to the homeowner’s front door and knocked.
No one answered. So, they ran back to the fire and turned-on a hose they found connected to the house.
“I just sprayed it. And then I gave the fire hose to him and let him spray it so I could bang on the door as hard as I can,” said Mason.
The “him” Mason referred to is his friend, 11-year-old Cesar Casiano.
No adult ever stepped in. When we asked if they were scared, both boys said no.
“Because I saw fire before,” said Myles.
The Stafford County Fire Department apparently the same question.
The answer they got: “Because we are Boy Scouts!”
In fact, Casiano says that very same week they were away with the Scouts.
“They taught me how to put it out, how to make it and how to use the soundings,” said Casiano.
Norman Carter is actually the Scout Commissioner for Troop 317.
“It’s just fulfilling to see that, yeah, these skills really are making a difference,” Carter said.
He was beaming with pride Tuesday. The Scouts are honoring Cesar with a Boy Scouts National Award of Merit. It’s an honor Carter says only so many people in the state have.
They were slow to interview on camera, but quick to jump into a Fortnite dance.
These 4-foot-tall, Fortnite-dancing pre-teens tell WUSA 9 the big lesson here is: “Don’t be scared to jump into action!”
Casiano received his award Tuesday. Carter tells WUSA 9 Mason had to take some time off but will receive his award when he re-enlists in the Scouts next season.
On that fire, officials believe burning coal embers from a grill on the homeowner’s second-story deck spilled over and sparked those flames below.
Good thing those Boy Scouts were there.