Teen saves home after doorbell cam alerts him of wildfire
A family in the Midwest is expressing enormous gratitude for their video doorbell system — which alerted them to a wildfire that began burning right outside their home.
Misty Schlake of Gothenberg, Nebraska, downloaded the stunning recording from her Ring Video Doorbell and sent it to the home security company.
The doorbell notified Schlake’s 18-year-old son, who was home alone at the time, that there was movement outside their family home on Thursday, April 21, at around 9:15 p.m.
“When he went to the door, he saw our land was on fire,” Schlake wrote in comments to Ring.
“My son called 911 and thanks to Ring, our house and all the structures were saved.”
Ring exclusively shared a spliced down one-minute and 48-second clip with Fox News Digital, which clearly shows that the blaze is only a short distance away.
Schlake’s son can be seen making a phone call as he checks the porch and front yard.
He’s joined by the family’s dog as they wait for emergency services to arrive.
The cool-under-pressure teen spoke directly to his mother through the doorbell’s two-way speaker while light-flashing emergency vehicles pulled up nearby in response to the fire.
“The house is good,” he said at one point, giving a thumbs-up sign.
Schlake can be heard asking him how he felt at the moment.
Her son described the moment as “shocking” — but confirmed that he was alright.
“I looked out the window, and then I saw … just hellfire,” he continued. “But yeah, they got here pretty fast. So … here I am.”
The video concludes by showing that the family home remained untouched while most of the observable surrounding land hadn’t been severely damaged.
Schlake said she’s grateful her son had been alerted to the fire.
She and her husband “had left for a long weekend” and were about “three hours away.”
Mark Ballmer, fire chief of the Gothenburg Volunteer Fire Department, confirmed that firefighters responded to the April blaze. He told Fox News Digital that an improperly discarded cigarette likely started the fire.
“[That’s what] we feel happened,” Ballmer wrote in an email. “[There was] no other ignition source at the site of origin, so a discarded cigarette from the public road is suspected as the cause.”
He went on to note that Gothenburg had “very dry and windy conditions” at the time of the fire.
Schlake said she believes the doorbell notification saved her son’s life and home.
“If that had not happened, we could have lost so much,” Schlake wrote in her statement to Ring.
“Just wanted to say thank you,” she also said. “Ring did so much more than [let] us know someone was at our door! It saved my son’s life and our home!”
“We live out in the country,” the mom also said. “We have land that our house and barns sit on, and connected to that is 40 acres of [grassland].”
She added that the fire torched “almost all 40 acres” in the three hours it took to put it out, but luckily “no one was hurt.”
“Things could have been so much worse. The fire was around 100 yards from our front door,” said Schlake.
“My daughter and in-laws came to the house to make sure all was OK along with half the town.”
