A man playing pickleball across the street dropped his paddle, sprinted to a burning house and pulled three people out, one by one, before firefighters arrived.
David Hester and his uncle Barton Metzold were playing a friendly game of pickleball Sunday at Hillhurst Park in Schenectady, New York. But suddenly, mid rally, they noticed something across the street.
“We saw the smoke going up, and at first we thought it was somebody barbecuing,” said Metzold. “Then it got bigger and blacker, and we thought maybe they’re burning leaves, and then I saw the flames,” he told NEWS10 ABC.
His nephew, David Hester, quickly dropped his paddle and sprinted to the building without thinking. From the courts, Metzold watched him kick down the doors of the home at and disappear inside.
Hester, who works in construction remodeling bathrooms, has no fire or rescue training and said when he saw the flames he knew the house would go up fast due to the wind, making the rescue more time-sensitive. He rushed from room to room searching for occupants.
The first person he found was a sleeping teenager. “I saw a younger kid around like 13, 14 [years old] I would say,” said Hester. “He was asleep. He looked petrified when I first [came] in there.”
He carried the child out, then went back for a man inside. As he brought him clear, he heard voices, one calling that their mother still needed help, the other his uncle telling him to stop.
“I kind of was screaming at him, ‘Don’t go in there again. Do not go in there,'” said Metzold. “[Hester] goes, ‘I still got time,’ and he totally ignored me, went [back] in.”
Inside, Hester found a woman and carried her out. On his way, a burning piece of wood struck him in the head, leaving a scar. He said his thick hair cushioned the blow before the wood fell and hit his ankle.
Within roughly five minutes, all three were safely out. When firefighters arrived, Hester left the scene, not wanting to stay in case someone was still inside and the anguish that would bring. The fire, which started on a second-floor porch, spread to two neighboring buildings and displaced six households. Crews knocked it down in about half an hour for safety reasons, according to the local Daily Gazette outlet.
Schenectady Fire Chief George Burns called Hester both a hero and a lucky one, with a word of caution. “Don’t go into the burning building, leave it up to us,” said Burns. “We have the gear for it, we have the breathing apparatus, and we’re trained for it,” he told NEWS10 ABC.
To his uncle, the rescue was no surprise. “He is a big teddy bear,” said Metzold. “He has the heart of a hero, really.”
Hester has been back on the pickleball court twice since. “They’re just complete strangers and I’m lucky I was there at the right place at the right time,” he said. “I don’t know what would have happened and I just happened to take action. I’m just happy that I was there.”
