Newspaper carrier helps save 11 from house fire

A newspaper carrier for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch is being credited with saving 11 people's lives after discovering a house on fire early on Thursday.

Ben Carroll, 28, was on his bicycle delivering papers along his route at approximately 5 a.m. when he smelled smoke. "It smelled like garbage burning," Carroll told the Dispatch.

He said he saw flames on the side of a duplex and knocked on the front door. When no one answered, he called the fire department. “Then I went around and banged on the side door and no one answered," Carroll said. "I could see a child through a little window. I just kept banging and yelling and banging and yelling.”

A man eventually came to the front door but did not believe his house was on fire. "He probably thought it was a prank," Carroll said. “I’m like, 'dude, your house is on fire.'"

The unidentified man told Columbus' News 10 that everyone in the house was sound asleep. Carroll convinced the man to step outside and see the flames for himself. The man ran back inside, emerging along with four other adults and six children. No one was injured.

“I just happened to be at the right place at the right time and I did what I was supposed to do,” Carroll said.