(Des Moines, IA) -- Two Des Moines women sprang into action early Wednesday morning, pounding on the windows of a burning house near Merle Hay and saving a woman trapped inside.
"You don't realize how big a house fire is until you're right up close to it," said Katie Beeson. "When I was running around knocking on the windows, I could slightly see through the curtains and saw the flickering orange glow. I thought, we need to get these people out."
Beeson was driving with her 9-year-old daughter around 5 a.m. Wednesday morning when she spotted the fire at 60th Street and New York Avenue. She immediately ran to alert the woman inside. Another woman was already on the scene and had called 911.
"There was another woman outside. I asked if she had called 911, and she was already on the phone with them," Beeson said. "I went up to the front patio, but it was locked, so I couldn’t reach the front door. I started banging on it, then ran around and knocked on all the windows until someone woke up."
Thanks to their efforts, everyone made it out of the home safely.
When asked what compelled her to stop and help, Beeson said, "I would like to think anyone out there would do it. That’s one of my biggest fears—something like that happening while you're asleep."
The other women at the scene has not been identified.