BRIDGTON — A family was rescued from their burning building on South High Street by good Samaritans Thursday morning.

“There were two men, big men,” homeowner David Fadden said. “They literally pulled my wife and my daughter out of the window then helped me.”

Fadden was searching for his cat and for answers after fire ripped through his barn, and two strangers rescued his family.

“This place is destroyed, look my wife’s car,” Fadden said. “Thank God almighty for those two people who got us out.”

It was 6 a.m. and the burning barn was attached to the house. They had to get out. 

Fadden said he, his wife, Anne Marie, and his daughter all had to be pulled out a window. He said if it wasn’t for the people who stopped to help, he doesn’t know what would’ve happened.

Fadden said it was a struggle, because his daughter was afraid.

“She’s autistic and to try to get her to go out the window it was just, if they weren’t here, I don’t know if we could’ve done it,” he said.
   
Fadden even went back inside for his cat.

“They said, ‘Don’t go back in.’ I went back in anyway. I had to push the mattress up and I got one cat out. A guy came in. It wasn’t police — police came after.” 
       
Fadden broke a rib. His wife and daughter are OK, but one of the cats is still missing.

He was desperate to find the cat and the men who rescued them.

“I would like to say to them, ‘Thank you. God sent you,’” Fadden said.

CBS 13, through the use of its Facebook page, was able to help him meet with the two men who rescued his family.

Troy Mello said he and Bruce McKeil live down the street from the Faddens. When they met Thursday afternoon, they talked about the rescue and what it took to get them out.

“We pull over and we wait a second, we see some smoke,” Mello said. “I hop out and call 911. He starts blaring his horn to wake them all up and pretty much from there on, we are getting people and cats out of that house before it gets bad.”

“Well, you know, I knew they existed,” Fadden said. “Everybody tried to tell me all day that they didn’t exist, that they were two cops. I knew that these guys were here before the police were here.

“Something woke me up,” he said. “I guess with him honking and I tore down the curtain to open the window and that’s when I saw you on the phone, right? And that’s when it all took place from there. They are a Godsend. They really saved my life, they did.”

Fadden exchanged phone numbers with Mello and McKeil. The three of them are looking forward to getting together in the future. 

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