An 81-year-old Kent woman was rescued from her blazing house Monday night by a couple of motorists who spotted the flames and stopped to investigate.Kent Fire Chief Jim Williams said it is likely that Jared Atkins and Paul Marschik saved the life of Constance Mellott when they pulled the badly burned woman through a door that had been blocked by debris.“Although [the house] was close to the station, even the two to three minutes it took us to get there, she could have been in much worse condition,” said Williams, who hopes to recognize the men at a Kent City Council meeting this month.Mellott is being treated in the burn unit of Akron Children’s Hospital. Williams said he has been unable to speak to her.“We typically investigate with the insurance company, but at this point we don’t even know who her insurance company is,” Williams said, “so it will be a while before we have a cause or damage estimate.”Mellott has no known relatives in the area, which is also slowing the investigation, Williams said.Tuesday afternoon, Atkins and Marschik were on their way to visit Mellott at the hospital when they paused to share their story.“We weren’t trying to be heroes, by any means,” said Atkins, a 2010 Kent State University graduate. “We were just in the moment. We knew we were the first ones there and if someone was in that house, we needed to do something right now or they weren’t going to get out.”Atkins and Marschik, both 23, had spent the evening at the movies and had just dropped a friend off in Kent and hopped in their respective cars for the drive home about 9 p.m.They hadn’t driven far when Marschik spotted flames through the second-floor windows at 221 Columbus St. and waved for his friend to pull over.The pair ran to the home, Marschik dialing 911 while Atkins pounded on doors and windows while calling out to see if there were occupants inside.Atkins said glass windows started popping from the heat and he had to dodge falling debris as he rounded the house looking for other entry points.At a side door, he found Mellott half way out of the house but wedged in the frame because something was stopping the door from opening far enough for her to escape.“She was calling for help. I could see she was badly burned,” Atkins said.Atkins called to Marschik and the pair kicked the door open. Atkins then took over the 911 call while Marschik carried the woman across the street to safety.As soon as the door was opened, oxygen fueled the fire and the house was engulfed, Marschik said.“We just wanted to get her as far away as we could,” Marschik said.Marschik ran to his friend’s house to get blankets to cover Mellott while Atkins flagged down the firetrucks to help them pinpoint the house on a street now filled with black smoke.Coincidentally, Marschik has an associate’s degree in fire protection from the University of Akron, is a certified EMT and has signed up for medic classes as he works toward his paramedic certification.“All the training I’ve had, I’ve been around certain situations,” Marschik said, “but nothing that personal, and not being a first responder.”Mellott told the men she had several cats. Their fate is unknown, but Atkins said he spotted a couple of cats hanging around the house when he stopped there again on Tuesday.KentWired, an online KSU publication, said Mellott is emeritus professor of the School of Library and Information Science.Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.