Dutchman honored for saving girls from house fire

Maarten Schilders from Best received a medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund on Thursday for his crucial role in saving two girls from a house fire their father started, AD reports.

The fire happened on March 20th. Schilders heard his two young neighbors shouting and looked out to see the upper floor of their house on fire. "They could not get out because the shutter was closed. It was hell up there, they were like rats in a trap", he said to AD about the incident. "At one point we made contact by screaming, they knew I was there. With great difficulty they opened the hatch and suddenly I saw two little heads popping out."

The older girl (15) urged her 8-year-old sister to jump out the windows into Schilders' waiting arms, and then followed herself.

Schilders appreciates the medal, but doesn't see himself as some hero. "Something like that you just do." he said to the newspaper.