John and Joel Rechlitz: Heroes (Video)

Two of Milwaukee's bravest, brothers John and Joel Rechlitz, are getting well-deserved national attention.

Yesterday, the two off-duty firefighters helped save a mother and her two children from a burning SUV.

The Rechlitz brothers aren't basking in the glory of being heroes. They are making sure that credit goes to off-duty police officer Lt. Mark Wroblewski, bystanders, and neighbors on the scene as well.

They were already working to free the family from the flames before the brothers arrived.

Many joined in to assist the mother and children trapped in the SUV, putting themselves at risk.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

His teenage daughter's request for an ice cream cake for her 17th birthday put John Rechlitz and his brother on a lifesaving mission Sunday after their wives headed out to Dairy Queen and drove past a car engulfed in flames.

"It was my daughter's 17th birthday. She wanted an ice cream cake. You talk about fate. If she had said a regular cake, we would've been in the other direction," said John Rechlitz, who, along with his brother, Joel, is a Milwaukee firefighter.

John's wife, Joy, and sister-in-law Kelly, who is married to Joel, rode past the burning 1992 Chevrolet Blazer on its left side near S. 22nd Place and W. Layton Ave. Joy quickly called John, who was back at his home with his brother, where family had gathered for a Sunday evening dinner.

"I got the call from my wife. The tone of her voice. It's not just, 'There's a car fire.' Somebody's trapped. She's very abrupt and the tone of her voice. Something is going on. I told my brother, 'Joel, we gotta go.' I was only three blocks away. We raced over there, turned the corner and saw the vehicle in flames," said John, a firefighter for 19 years.

There were already several civilians attempting to help. The brothers worked quickly to pull the windshield back. The mother had already handed her 2-year-old daughter out to bystanders through the top of the vehicle. She came out through the front of the vehicle, through the windshield.

"She was screaming, 'My baby's still in there! My child's still in there!" John said.

Said Joel, "We saw this child burning in front of us, screaming. It's a no brainer. Your training just kicks in. At no time did I feel I was truly in danger. I knew the risks involved."

They are quick, though, to also give credit to others at the scene, calling it a total group effort.

"You see people bashing on the windows. Without that we couldn't have gotten in on time," said Joel, who has been with the MFD for 10 years. "An off duty police officer (Lt. Mark Wroblewski) had fire extinguishers. That gave us an extra 5, 10 seconds, which proved to be the lifesaving 5 seconds. A lady stretched out a hose across Layton Avenue. As soon as we pulled him out, we were able to cool him off. That prevented the burns from being worse."

"The off-duty firefighters, the off-duty police officers, these citizens of the city, they did an outstanding job," said Wroblewski, who suffered minor injuries. "They showed the true spirit of the city by coming together to save this child's life."

..."For that two minutes, that child was kind of our child," Joel said. "It would have been devastating if things wouldn't have turned out the way it was."

...The boy suffered burns to at least 30% of his body and underwent surgery Sunday night at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, according to police officials. His condition was listed as critical but stable Monday morning, police said.

There are some very good people in this world, people quick to respond to an emergency and help strangers.

John and Joel Rechlitz are fathers. As Joel said, "For that two minutes, that child was kind of our child."

I'm sure the others involved in the rescue felt the same way. Standing idly by was not an option.

Prayers for the little boy's recovery and thanks to all those good people who helped.

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More, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A group of people including two off-duty firefighters and an off-duty police lieutenant rescued a woman and her two children from a burning SUV that crashed on Milwaukee's south side Sunday afternoon.

Most of the rescue was filmed by a bystander. The video shows the 1992 Chevrolet Blazer on its left side near S. 22nd Place and W. Layton Ave., its back half engulfed in flames and black smoke.

Two men eventually use metal pipes to break through the windshield, freeing the woman, who is a 32-year-old Tennessee resident, and her 2-year-old daughter.

They suffered minor injuries, police said.

The woman's 4-year-old son was still trapped inside.

...The one-vehicle crash was under investigation Sunday night, but alcohol was not believed to be a factor, police said.

The way the Rechlitz brothers responded to this fire makes me think of two other brothers from the Milwaukee area.

Kurtis and Joshua Popp allegedly launched a military flare that started the catastrophic fire at the Patrick Cudahy plant, causing $50 million in damages and mandatory evacuations of people living in the surrounding area.

They didn't immediately inform authorities what had happened, to offer information that might have assisted the fire department in fighting the blaze. They didn't report what they had done or turn themselves in. They sat back and did nothing.

The Popp brothers' mother said, "They were just being idiots."

They were worse than idiots.

And they certainly weren't being heroes.