FLORENCE — Jared Simpson said he and his friends put fear aside when they saw flames erupting from a nearby apartment.

“It was like something you would see in the movies — it was balls of fire coming out of windows,” said Simpson, a 2006 graduate of Russell High School who is now studying accounting and finance at Northern Kentucky University.

“At first it was just reaction. It was hard to believe this was happening just two buildings down,” said Simpson, the son of Ron and Janet Simpson of Russell.

Simpson said he and some friends, including brothers in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, had gathered at Woodspring Apartments to watch a football game Oct. 3 when two among them went outside to smoke. One of the smokers immediately turned around and urgently told everyone inside to call 911 to report a fire. Simpson said the group initially doubted the story, but knew there was trouble as soon as they looked outside.

“Four or five of us just sprinted,” he said, explaining they began knocking and kicking on doors to warn people about the fire. As soon as they arrived, Simpson said they found the woman who had escaped the apartment where the fire began. After making their way around the first floor, Simpson said he and others ran up the wooden steps and repeated the process for the second floor and then the third. On the top floor, Simpson said he found a man who had no idea there was trouble below, and told him they had been quietly watching TV inside.

As he cleared the third floor and began making his way back the way he came, Simpson found the wooden stairway was already burning, forcing him to find another way down. Facing mounting heat and flames, Simpson said he used his shirt to shield his lungs from some of the smoke he encountered.

While none of the responders or occupants of the building were injured, one of the girls who was with Simpson and friends was nearly caught inside the burning structure when she dashed inside to try and rescue a cat owned by an elderly woman who lived there. The cat had already escaped the fire, he said, and returned to the burned apartment building shortly after the blaze was extinguished.

While uncertain of the time involved, Simpson said firefighters and equipment were on the scene within 15 to 20 minutes.

“I was just thinking about if it had been my apartment building,” Simpson said. “I would just hope somebody would try to help me if my own apartment building caught fire.”

For their quick action, the city of Florence recently recognized Simpson, along with his girlfriend Tabitha Bowling, and former volunteer firefighters and brothers Damon and Darron Brock with individual proclamations commending each for their “unselfish acts of bravery.”

The city’s proclamation states most of the residents of Woodspring Apartment Complex were asleep when the fire began in the early morning hours of Oct. 24.

“The residents of the building lost all of their worldly possessions, but many of them are alive today because of your quick and selfless efforts,” according to the proclamation issued to Simpson and signed by Mayor Diane E. Whalen.

Under such extreme circumstances, Simpson advises people to think carefully before they put themselves in danger.

“Do what you can but be smart about it,” he said.

TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2651.