HIGH RIDGE, Mo. — A teenager who saved two toddlers from a "massive fire" in High Ridge in July is now a recognized "Hometown Hero" by the High Ridge Fire Protection District.
15-year-old Savannah Strother was babysitting the two children on July 9 when the home she was in caught fire.
"She acted without hesitation to get a 1-year-old and 3-year-old to safety without any injuries," High Ridge Fire Protection District Fire Chief John Barton wrote on social media. "(She) was at a neighbor's house babysitting two small children when a massive fire broke out, involving both the house she was in and (an adjacent) house."
Firefighters were sent to the 5300 block of Winthrop Drive around 9:30 p.m. after getting reports of a housefire. Crews found the fire had burned the front of one home and was spreading to the house next door, where the babysitter and two toddlers were.
Two adults were able to escape the first home before firefighters arrived, fire officials said. One of them was taken to the hospital for burns; the second didn't need medical treatment.
"Video from an indoor security camera was later obtained showing her carrying the kids to safety with the bright orange glow of intense flames just outside the window," officials said.
Monday afternoon, the fire protection district's board of directors and fire chief presented the teenager with the Hometown Hero award. In attendance at the ceremony, High Ridge firefighters, members of the Jefferson County Ambulance District and members of the High Ridge Elks Lodge.
The High Ridge Elks Lodge gave Strother their "Citizenship Award" and a check for $500.
"I feel like I did what anyone else would do," Strother told 5 On Your Side.
Strother's mom Brittany, said she is proud but not particularly surprised by her daughter's actions: "She is very mature. She has this little motherly instinct in her that is amazing. She is really good with her little sisters and she is my little partner forever."