Deputy catches children dropped from second story of burning home
By: Four people, including two toddlers, are hospitalized after being pulled from the second floor of a burning home early Wednesday in Waconia.
The victims - identified as Dru and Chrissy DeLange and their children, 3-year-old Freya and 1-year-old Finn - were rushed to Hennepin Healthcare with "various" injuries, according to officials. Their conditions are unknown.
Deputies with the Carver County Sheriff's Office were called to the home on the 400 block of South Orange St. just before 12:15 a.m. on reports of a fully-involved fire. Arriving first responders learned there were a number of residents trapped on the second floor.
A news release from the Carver County Sheriff's Office says deputies used a window on the second floor to rescue all four family members. Body cam video captures a deputy pulling up on the scene and sprinting to the fully engulfed home, positioning himself under the window and then catching one of the children. After sprinting the tiny boy to safety, he runs back to the home and catches his older sister as her parents dropped her to the waiting officer.
Two dogs were trapped in the fire and did not survive.
One deputy suffered minor injuries in the incident and was treated and released at Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
GoFundMe organizer Faith DeLange says the family is being treated for smoke inhalation and broken vertebrae in their backs.