Man saves children from fire but infant dies

(East New York-WABC, June 8, 2007) (WABC) -- A 10 month old is dead after a fire in Brooklyn but two siblings are alive, rescued by a neighbor.

The fast moving fire broke out in East New York. The children had been left home alone when their mother went to pick up Chinese food.

Eyewitness News reporter Kemberly Richardson talked to the man who saved the children.

"She is right there. You know, you see something right there, you just can't grab it? I couldn't," said Tommy Campbell.

Charred memories covered in soot are all that's left of one apartment. Now the smoke has cleared, it seems so easy to walk into 182 Atkins avenue, but last night Tommy Campbell faced the biggest challenge, saving two small children from a raging, smoky fire here.

Campbell said, "Everybody here with a heart would do the same thing so there's no hero here."

He was in his downstairs apartment before 10:00 p.m. last night, when a 5-year-old girl started screaming for help, telling Campbell her siblings were trapped upstairs. Campbell and a friend didn't hesitate. They ran to help, first grabbing a 2-year-old and then running back to save a 1-year-old, relying on military training in gas chambers to do what he did next.

"I got a wet towel, put it on the face," Campbell said. "On the third attempt, I couldn't take it no more."

That is where firefighters found the toddler, dead in stroller which at the time Campbell couldn't see was feet from him. The children's father was at work, and their mother had left her kids alone in the apartment to go to the corner to get food. When she returned she realized what had happened.

Michelle Webb, the victims' grandmother, said today "She made a little mistake, she is going to have to pay for for the rest of the life."

Fire marshals say it appears one of the children left inside of the apartment was playing with a lighter, and that is how this fire started. It's something that weighs heavy on Campbell's mind. He says he will think about it the rest of his life.

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