Also speeding to the scene of the May 9 fire in the afternoon were fire crews from the Hamilton Fire Department and Ross and Fairfield firefighters as the entire upper hallway was engulfed in flames trapping the man and his deaf wife.
“It was a pretty hectic scene and there was a guy hanging out the window and he was struggling for air,” Pence later told the Journal-News.
“My first reaction was to get him out of the building as fast as I could.”
For starting football center Ross, that meant ignoring a recent back injury and lining up in a large bush about 25 feet below the man and raising his arms while yelling at him to jump.
The man jumped from the window with Pence and the bush mostly breaking his fall as they both fell.
Then his wife appeared at the window and the teenager didn’t know it yet, but a skill he had learned last year at school — sign language — was about to help save a life.
“After I got the man out of the building, I looked over and his deaf wife is signing to me that she can’t breathe either. So I signed back to her, ‘You have to get down now, the hallway is on fire.’
“And I tried to catch her,” he recalled, sending them both spinning into the bush and out of the flames that had roared through the upper floor.
Thanks to Pence’s heroics, both survived with relatively minor injuries, Hamilton fire officials said.
The fire, which caused more than $200,000 in damage to the top-floor apartments, remains under investigation, fire officials said.
But once Pence made sure EMS crews attended to the couple, he cleaned himself up and returned to his mother’s house before firefighters could interview him. They have spent the last week searching for the young hero and said they were grateful the Journal-News identified him.
And Pence, who is a member of his high school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter, said he was lucky to have the opportunity to help.
“I feel that God put me there. Throughout my life I have been taught to treat others the way you would like to be treated. So if I, or one of my family members , if you were stuck in an apartment building (fire), I’d want someone else to come help too.”
Hamilton Fire Chief Mark Mercer described Pence as “awesome.”
“Having this awareness that I should do something and knowing what it was. And then having this special ability to be able to communicate with the lady,” said Mercer.
Ross High School Principal Brian Martin said Pence’s bravery didn’t surprise anyone.
“Justin’s actions are not surprising to anyone who knows him here at Ross. He is as selfless a young man as you will find with a great work ethic,” Martin said.
“Justin is a standout offensive lineman on the varsity football team, has a 3.4 GPA and is a good young man outside of the classroom. Just a hardworking, unassuming young man who does the right thing and puts others first.”
Mercer said Pence could have a new career option.
“I don’t know what the future holds for him, but if he’s looking for a job … the fire department would love to talk to him.”
