Engine 11 was first on the scene, and when a member of the crew came out of the home carrying a 5-foot-9, 68-pound person covered in soot, Stoeckert assumed he was a young teenager.

“Over my 37-year career, we’ve had plenty of arson fires, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard that someone lit a fire to be rescued from their confinement,” Stoeckert says.

“To start a fire in a room that small (8’x9’), just hoping that we were going to get there in time to get him out – that …” he takes a long pause, “It’s a different feeling.”