Student rescues woman from burning home
By Todd Magel
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JOHNSTON, Iowa (KCCI) — A Dowling Catholic High School student rescued a woman from her burning home in Johnston Sunday night after spotting flames while playing golf at Hyperion Golf Club.
“We kind of were shocked. We yelled out, ‘There’s a fire!’ No one was really there. We didn’t know what was going on,” Marek Dessimoz, 17, said.
His mother, Agnieszka Pieta, described her reaction to the fire.
“I start screaming, help fire, help fire. But nobody was out,” she said.
Dessimoz and his father, Douglas Kaye, jumped over the tall golf course fence and ran to the house to help. Dessimoz reached the front door first.
“I started knocking on the windows, like, hitting as hard as I could and seeing if someone was there,” Dessimoz said.
He soon spotted the homeowner, a woman who lives alone.
“And then this lady, I see her inside and she runs over and opens the door and she’s shocked,” Dessimoz said.
Seconds later, a propane tank exploded, and the fire spread quickly from the deck to the roof. Thick black smoke poured into the house, and the homeowner tried to go back inside to retrieve her cat. Dessimoz and an Amazon delivery driver who stopped to help pulled her out of the house and away from danger.
“And I saw how big it got; it was spreading on the walls. I just did what I thought was right,” Dessimoz said.
Johnston Grimes fire Chief Percy Coleman commended Dessimoz’s actions.
“Getting her out in a timely manner was certainly key. And I think it’s safe to say, really saved her life here,” Coleman said.
Pieta expressed pride in her son.
“So for sure this makes me very proud of my son,” she said.
Reflecting on the incident, Dessimoz said, “It can go by so fast. Just a little flame can change everything about your house. So that was really nerve-wracking, for sure for me.”
Pieta now calls her son her hero.
“He is my superhero. Yes, my superhero and the best Mother’s Day gift you can give,” she said.
The Johnston Fire Department confirmed that the homeowner’s cat survived and was found in the basement. However, the house is a total loss, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
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