‘Whole place was on fire’: 12-year-old rescued from basement of burning home

STOW, Ohio (WJW) – Kevin Altomare says he awakened early Tuesday to realize something was terribly wrong.

“I just heard noises outside and came downstairs, looked outside and saw an orange glow. I came downstairs to see what was going on and felt the heat and that’s when smoke started coming into the house from the garage area,” said Altomare.

His family of five was hosting another family, giving them a place to stay with their children competing in the All American Soap Box Derby.

His 12-year-old son, Keegan, had given up his room for their guests and was staying in their basement.

“So we got everybody out of the upstairs and kind of thought each other got Keegan out of the basement and got outside,” said Altomare. “(We) realized he was still in there.”

By this point, flames were racing through the home.

“We couldn’t get back in the front door. It was just completely engulfed. So Brett, who was staying with us, whose daughter had raced with Keegan, him and a neighbor Ryan down the street, they both went in and started breaking windows, trying to figure out how to get in the house. They were able to get into the back side of the house.” he said.

By then, Altomare had already been able to break out a part of a glass block basement window and was communicating with his son through the opening, telling him to stay as far away from where the flames were as possible and cover himself in case things started to collapse.

“Everybody was yelling, ‘there’s a fire, there’s a fire! Someone is in there, help him out!'” said Keegan. “I didn’t try anything. I just heard screaming in the basement to tell me to go get under something and stay there and then to go up the stairs and get out.”

With firefighters already on the way, the two rescuers made their way into the blazing home and to the door at the top of the stairs.

“The whole place was on fire. Like, I could barely see anything. The rooms were like, stuff was falling off of walls… It sounded like gunshots coming from everywhere and everything was on fire,” said Keegan.

“Once they got in, they started yelling at him to get up the stairs so they got him out.” said his father.

“Pretty wild that neither of them got hurt, just a little smoke inhalation. No cuts, no burns or anything on them. How, I don’t know because the entire house was engulfed at that point,” said Kevin.

Keegan was treated at a local hospital but released with what he says was only minor smoke inhalation.

He did miss a race in the Soap Box Derby on Tuesday but has been cleared to race again this weekend, even though his family lost six derby cars in the fire.

Their All-American car was being stored at the time at Derby Downs in Akron and is OK.

“His big passion is soap box derby racing and so he missed his race on yesterday, but he’s ready to go for Saturday ,” said Kevin.

“It just felt good, blessed that someone actually wanted to help me and save me and that they actually put their lives on the line to save mine,” said Keegan, who feels fortunate to be alive and able to race again. “It’s going to be fun and nerve-wracking that I’m still here and still racing.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.  Altomare says the house is considered a total loss.

In the meantime, there are several efforts underway to help the family recover, including a GoFundMe page and a collection effort organized by Altomare’s sister.

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