An aspiring rapper who saved four siblings from their burning home in after he made a wrong turn, checks on them every day since the fire — and even took the youngest trick-or-treating on .
Brendon Birt, 26, is called Blasé 96 in his music career, and is now being called an honorary member of the Lehman family after his heroic actions last month.
Birt was driving to a friend’s home in Red Oak just before 2 a.m. on October 23 when he made a mistake that ended up saving the lives of four people, who he now calls family, evident in new photos they’ve shared together on social media.
When Birt accidentally turned onto Prospect Street and came across a house engulfed in flames, he jumped out and did everything he could to do to alert the occupants to the fire.
He screamed fire and banged on the doors, and was about to run to the back of the house to try to break in when two teenage girls and a younger boy busted through the front door screaming and crying for help.
They said it was Birt’s banging that woke them up.
‘It was a huge relief when I saw them running out,’ Birt told The Washington Post. ‘If they had waited one more minute, they probably wouldn’t have gotten out of there.’
Brendon Birt, 26, pictured here with Tender Lehman and the oldest sibling Bryce Harrison, took a wrong turn in the town of Red Oak, Iowa when he came upon the burning home and alerted the Lehman family, saving the lives of four siblings
Birt and Lehman embrace after he saved her four children from the October blaze. She said she is forever grateful for Brit, who they call a hero and an honorary member of their family
According to the Stanton Fire and Rescue, firefighters battled the blaze for five hours. The is a total loss and not covered by house by insurance, Lehman said
He discovered that the four siblings — Bryce, 22, Kindred, 17, Spirit, 14, and Christopher, 8 — were asleep inside the house when the fire broke out.
Their mother, and owner of the house, Tender Lehman, was in Montana due to a family emergency, and her husband, Chris Lehman was working in Muscatine, Iowa.
She had left the children in the care of the oldest sibling, Bryce Harrison.
When Birt came upon the burning house, he had a feeling, given the late hour, that someone was in the house and he had to stop.
‘I imagined it being my family in there,’ Birt said. ‘There was no other way around it.’
Lehman said she is forever grateful for Brit, who they call a hero, and an honorary member of their family.
‘I think it’s such an epidemic in this country, people pulling out their cellphones and recording tragedy instead of jumping in to help,’ she said.
‘He pulled out his cellphone and he called 911. He knew that they didn’t have time to wait.’
The horrific fire broke out on the night of October 23 in Red Oak, Iowa
Four siblings, ages 22, 17, 14 and 8, remained asleep inside as the flames engulfed the home
Birt said he didn’t even hesitate when deciding to stop to help that night of the fire.
‘I just had to assume somebody was in there. I was throwing stuff at the house, hitting the windows, yelling — everything I could to try to get them out of the house.’
His persistent banging woke the siblings up, they said, as came rushing out the front door. They’re older brother, however, was still inside.
Birt said about a minute went by, which ‘felt like forever,’ he said, before Bryce came running out, flames licking at his heels.
Bryce, who had been in the basement when the fire broke out, later said he ran up the stairs with his pistol because he heard the commotion and thought there was a home intruder.
‘I ran up the basement stairs with my pistol, ready to do what I had to do, and then like just froze when I saw a wall of fire,’ he said.
‘I can guarantee you if it had not been for Brendon, it would have been 10 times worse than it was,’ he added.
All four siblings escaped the burning house, but five of the family’s seven dogs were killed in the fire.
‘My kids were very shaken up,’ Tender said. ‘They lost their dogs. They were devastated.’
Lehman was not able to get home right away, so Birt stayed with the Lehman siblings for nearly three hours after the fire, ‘hugging them and talking to them, and trying to make them feel better,’ he said.
‘He is a special, special guy,’ Leham said, adding that Birt is ‘is still rescuing my children,’ she said, explaining that he checks on them every day. ‘They’re healing each other. They’re the only five people on the planet that know what that night felt like.’
Brendon Birt, pictured here, is an aspiring rapper who goes by the name Blase 96
Birt has checked on the Lehmans every day and visited several times since the fire. He even took the youngest, Christopher, trick-or-treating on Halloween
A GoFundMe page that has been set up for the family has raised over $28,000 at the time of writing. The goal of the page is $30,000
Birt has checked on the Lehmans every day and visited several times since the fire. He even took the youngest, Christopher, trick-or-treating on Halloween.
‘I never knew taking the wrong turn was such a good thing,’ the youngest Christopher said.
‘I’m just thankful that he’s been with us every second that we’ve asked him to,’ said his sister, Spirit.
‘He actually did something and saved all of us,’ Kindred added. ‘It was pretty unbelievable.’
Lehman said: ‘I told him, ‘You just gained another family.’ He’s going to be in all the Christmas cards,’ she said. ‘He’s an incredible human.’
The family’s house is a total loss, and the damage is not covered by insurance, Lehman said
Pumpkins on the front porch for Halloween are now scorched from the fire
The house and the contents of the house was all destroyed in the fire
Lehman posted the video showing the moment that her family escaped certain death on Instagram. The video was recorded by her Ring doorbell camera. She wrote in the caption: ‘The day our lives changed forever! But, from the ashes right??’
The video showed Lehman’s three young children escaping, they are followed by their eldest sibling.
The hero continued: ‘They came out the door. Like, I just felt like, I just wanted to break down and cry. Like, I don’t even know these people here.’
The Red Oak Fire Department said that the cause of the fire is under investigation.
The family’s house is a total loss, and the damage is not covered by insurance, Lehman said.
that has been set up for the family has raised over $28,000 at the time of writing. The goal of the page is $30,000.
It took Brendon Birt’s heroic actions to rouse the family from their beds to safety
According to local reports, the family’s smoke detectors did not go off as the fire spread
According to the page, that was set up by Tender Lehman’s mother, Windy Monjarez, the family’s home is a ‘total loss.’
The page reads: ‘My son in law is a Union Boilermaker and my daughter is in college to become a nurse. Anybody who knows them, knows their hearts!’
It continues: ‘They would and have helped everybody who has ever needed it. They are homeless and have nothing left.’
On her Facebook page, Monjarez wrote of Birt: ‘This young man doesn’t look like a hero with his saggy pants, two tone braids and a stocking cap but he is our hero.’
She added: ‘Brendon Birt you are my hero! You will always be in my heart as the 25 yr old hipster hero that saved my four grandkids. I love you!’
According to his Facebook page, Birt is a native of Red Oak, Iowa, and attended the University of Iowa.
In 2020, Brendon released his first album Misunderstood that ironically includes a track titled Get Out. He followed that up with his second album, Black Side.
