Emergency dispatcher Marisa Anderson thought she was having a normal day at work in northeastern Wisconsin.
When the 911 call came in on June 9, she could hear children screaming "Mom" and wondered if their mother was suffering an emergency.
But then she looked up the call’s coordinates and realized that it was her 17-year-old daughter Emma on the other end of the line shouting their address, Anderson told NBC affiliate WGBA in Wisconsin. Those were her kids, telling her that her house was on fire.
"Hold on, Mom will be there soon,” she told them.
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Anderson’s 12-year-old son Landon heard glass breaking and was able to escape and wake his sister and her friend who were asleep in a camper.
"I’m unbelievably proud of them," Anderson told WGBA. "They did exactly, my son especially, he did exactly what he was taught… and that’s a lot to put on a 12-year-old."
The family is safe but their pets died in the fire.
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“My son is taking it very, very difficult,” Anderson said. “He wishes he would have gotten the pets out in time. I’m just reminding him every day how lucky I am that he's here today.”
The fire in Forestville, which investigators believe was started by an electrical cord, destroyed all of their belongings, according to the family’s GoFundMe.
“It's probably just tragic irony that the person who helps us help others, that day needed help,” Southern Door County Fire Chief Rich Olson said.
