AURORA, Colo. — Three Aurora police officers who responded to a house fire late Wednesday night rushed inside the burning home to rescue an elderly man.
The officers responded to the home in the 600 block of North Buckley Way around 9 p.m. Wednesday night and learned that an elderly man was still inside, a tweet from the Aurora police department said. The home is near North Airport Boulevard and East 6th Avenue.
APD Officer Specialist Ryan Sweeney said he was close to the home when the call first went out and just happened to get there first.
"I went through the front door, walked inside and encountered a lot of smoke," he said.
Sweeney found an elderly couple inside the home. He said the woman told him her husband needed help.
"The male was laying on the floor and said he couldn’t walk and so I just picked him up and dragged him outside."
APD Officer Specialist Alex Diz arrived at the scene next, with a third officer recruit. They helped the woman get outside and checked to make sure nobody else was in the home.
The officers said firefighters arrived just as they were coming outside.
They said firefighters treated the couple, and also made sure they were okay, too.
Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz praised the officers' actions in a tweet Wednesday night.
"Our officers disregarded their own safety to quickly rush into a house fire," the tweet said.
But the officers are too humble to accept the credit.
"One story makes the news and hundreds and hundreds don’t," Diz said. "I don’t feel like we did anything extraordinary in this case."
"It's what we signed up to," Sweeney added.
Aurora Police said the elderly man rescued by officers is now recovering and expected to be okay.
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