Teen Saves Neighbor, 8, From Burning Building [VIDEO]

Troutdale, OR – When a fire broke out in their home on Monday night, Alex Ma tried desperately to get upstairs to save his son, who was locked in an upstairs bedroom. Suzanne, the boy’s mother, called 911, and the neighbors came rushing to assist. Although the boy’s father and neighbor Eduardo tried to get up the stairs to rescue 8-year-old Cody, they were unsuccessful. It seemed that Cody was unreachable, until Eduardo’s son Marcos jumped to action.

Thick black smoke and super hot gases had filled the staircase inside the home, Gresham Battalion Chief Mark Maunder later reported to KATU News, making “it almost impossible to get up the stairs.” Marcos, however, decided to try to get Cody from the outside.Shortly after the fire, the teen described his actions to KATU, “I took the ladder, and I propped it up on the window, and I crawled up the window and punched the screen out… and grabbed [the boy] and carried him down the ladder.”

Cody, having locked himself in a room to stay clear of the fire and smoke, was hesitant to follow Marcos. “I just told him to go feet first, and then he walked down the ladder, but I had my arm around him so he was secure,” Marcos added to his report. “He was scared at first and he didn’t know if he should come out, and I was like, ‘It’s OK, come on, come on. I got you.’ So he came out and he just walked down.” The rescue was the first time Marcos and Cody had met.

“I may never forget their names because they’re my heroes,” Alex Ma told KATU,“They are my son’s heroes forever.”

NBC Newsreports that investigators believe the fire, which began inside Cody’s room, was started by accident. It began sometime after 10 PM and rapidly spread to the rest of the house.