Westminster – The smoke was heavy, the danger was real, and Kyle Wagner’s asthma was getting worse.
But the 17-year-old Northglenn High School senior didn’t let any of that stop him from getting his 8-year-old friend out of harm’s way. Or from saving his friend’s 91-year-old great-great-grandmother.
“They were in trouble, and I helped them. Now they think I’m a hero,” Wagner said Wednesday. “That’s cool.”
Westminster firefighters think Wagner’s actions are pretty cool too. The Fire Department is praising Wagner for his bravery in saving Lydia Cooper from a dangerous kitchen fire Oct. 24.
“I don’t know if we recommend people without training walking into a fire by themselves,” said Deputy Chief Ken Watkins. “But in this case, he saved Lydia.”
As he does many days, Wagner was walking his young friend – Dante Espinoza – home from school that Tuesday afternoon when he noticed a smell coming from Dante’s house.
Wagner opened the door, and smoke came billowing out of the home, two doors from Wagner’s home in the 7500 block of Bryant Street.
Wagner told Dante to go across the street to call 911, and then he entered the home. He found Cooper in her bedroom, where she was sleeping, and quickly woke her and led her outside. He then went back into the house two more times to look for the other two children living there, but they weren’t at home.
He also turned off the oven, which had caught fire from sauerkraut on one of the burners.
“The smoke was pretty bad, and my asthma was getting bad too,” Wagner said. “It was really dark, and it was tough to see.”
Wagner and Cooper had to be treated for smoke inhalation at a local hospital.
Cooper held Wagner’s hand Wednesday during a news conference with Westminster firefighters in front of Wagner’s home. She looked up at her 6-foot-4 rescuer and smiled.
“I think he is a hero. He’s just so wonderful,” she said.
“It’s great he saved my grandma,” Dante added.
Wagner’s mom, Pam, said her son weighed just over 3 pounds when he was born and has struggled with asthma all his life.
Still, she wasn’t surprised at how sturdy he was when he saw his friends were in trouble.
“He’s always liked to help everybody,” Pam Wagner said.
“Even while all of this was going on, he came back into the house, took in his inhaler and said, ‘Well, I gotta go back outside and help the firefighters,”‘ she said. “That’s just him.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or at mwhaley@denverpost.com.
