They ran door-to-door telling residents to get out of the burning eight-unit apartment building at Greenacres Village on Airline Drive.

"When we saw the smoke we came outside," Tony Scott, 15, said. "I saw Alex outside and we came straight over here to where the fire was and made sure everybody got out."

Joining Scott in sounding the alert were his 13-year-old brother, Boston, and their 16-year-old friend, Alex Beltran.

Jeremy Powell, who lives in one part of the complex, is crediting the teens with saving his grandparents, who live in the building that was struck by lightning.

"The flames were twice as high as the building," Powell said. "The whole roof was just gone."

The teens said their first priority was to notify the senior citizens in the building and then go to the other apartments.