School bus driver rescues family's pets from burning home

JACKSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WJW) - Bitter cold temperatures closed schools in a Stark County, Ohio community on Wednesday, so it was a day off for Todd Morris as well.

A former police officer, now a school bus driver for Jackson Local Schools, Morris was heading home after an appointment Wednesday morning when he said he saw smoke rising through the air and decided to investigate.

"I was actually looking at fire station number two, our firehouse, and said, 'that's not chimney smoke.' I kept on driving toward my house and said, 'That's definitely not chimney smoke.' It was light gray smoke coming out of a window on the second story right above the garage and there was flames coming out of the top of the window" said Morris.

The home belongs to a family that is on his route. Two of their children ride his bus and he knew they were not in school on Wednesday.

He quickly parked his truck and ran toward the house, calling the fire department on his way.

"There wasn't a lot of forethought running down the yard, the mission was to get to my kids," said Morris.

"I wasn't getting a response. I knew the house was starting to burn more, so I actually made entry into the house through the front door and started my primary search of the house to find the kids," Morris went on. "My concern then when I came through the door was I was yelling for the kids, I was yelling their names out, 'are you here?'"

Morris said the smoke was getting more acrid and he could see the flames spreading.

He continued racing in and out of the house, getting gasps of fresh air as he desperately searched room to room to see if anyone was there.

"I was still yelling for the kids. Eventually, I started to go upstairs. It was getting pretty thick smoke-wise. I couldn't even tell what room the fire was in, but I could see the fire was starting to get worse," he said.

"I went out to get another fresh breath of air, came in and looked down the stairs and both of the dogs were sitting at the bottom of the stairs with a deer in the headlight look," Morris added.

With the flames growing, now certain there was no one else in the home, Morris coaxed the family's two dogs to safety.

"I came down and gave the mastiff a little tap on the rear end to get up. She went right up out the door, but the other dog had special needs she wasn't walking so well, so I had to kind of pick her up and scoot her out the door as well," he said.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, and an investigator for the family's insurance company was planning to return after the temperatures started to warm up.

But the fire was devastating enough that the family lost mostly everything they owned.

"We knew nobody was in there, but we were just crying for their house and everything that's in it because we know they are a good family. For something like this to happen is just tragic for them," said Brittany Blankenship, a neighbor.

A GoFundMe effort is underway to help the family recover.

As for his efforts, Morris says he was in the vicinity following several delays in his other appointments that morning, but he believes he was where he was meant to be at that time.

"Something put me there in the right place at the right time. I was just there at the right time and I just acted based on what we knew," he said.