Haskell Indian Nations University has recognized four students for their actions during the Boardwalk Apartments fire.

“It’s sad that three people lost their lives in the fire, but if these guys hadn’t done what they did, a lot more people would have died,” said Mark Randolph, a counselor at Haskell. “We are proud of them.”

The students – Zachary Noline, Adam Washington, Lumhe Sampson and Joseph Anderson – are credited with first noticing the fire, alerting sleeping tenants and calling 911.

The four were given Pendleton blankets during a memorial service Tuesday for Yolanda Riddle, a Haskell graduate who died in the fire. The blankets are a sign of honor.

Anderson, a senior from Okmulgee, Okla., lives in a basement apartment across the street from the building that burned. He said he and his friends were watching TV and playing video games when one of them noticed a “weird orange reflection” on the front window.

Haskell Indian Nations University students, from left, Joseph Anderson, Zachary Noline and Lumhe Sampson were honored Tuesday along with Adam Washington by the school for actions during the Boardwalk Apartments fire Oct. 7.

“I said ‘I wonder if that’s a fire,'” Anderson said, “And all four of us got up to look. When we saw the fire – it was already on the second and third floors, curling around the balconies and onto the roof – we all just took off running. We were pounding on doors and yelling ‘FIRE!” and telling people to get out.”

Anderson said Washington called 911 on his cell phone at 1:19 a.m.

“It was really weird because usually at that time there are people outside smoking, or getting in from the clubs or off work,” Anderson said. “But when we went running across the street, there wasn’t anybody around, and it was real quiet. It was eerie.”

Two Haskell students, Andrew Rodriguez and Hughlynn Lee, were displaced by the fire.