The inferno quickly consumed the house at 24 Wisconsin Avenue in Bay Shore, and as the flames spread, Dawn Bosque found herself trapped in her upstairs bedroom with her two young sons.
From across the street, there were some helping hands. 14-year-old David Ortiz woke up his 17-year-old brother Daniel, and they raced to help.
"It was just like bursting with flames," said David, "and then, I don't know what clicked in my head, I just ran over to my house and grabbed a ladder."
David pulled out 3-year-old Jaden, and his older brother Ryan the climbed down the ladder. Good Samaritans and a police officer helped Dawn from the house, along with her father, who was hospitalized with burns. If it were not for the Ortiz brothers, the Bosques are convinced they might not have survived.
"If my neighbors didn't help us, me and my kids wouldn't be here today, we wouldn't have made it," says Dawn.
"To hear that the neighbors across the street that I grew up with, their kids, were the ones that came over, and grabbed a ladder from their garage put it up against the house to get my nephews out and save my nephews from the fire," says David, "words can't express the gratitude and the thankfulness that I feel."
Arson detectives continue to investigate the cause of the fire.
