March 03--Desperate to save his month-old child, Darrell G. Neese tried to fight his way through the black smoke and flames engulfing the second story of their Hilltop home.
When he staggered out of the house without her, neighbors also attempted rescues, first from inside the home and then with a ladder from the outside.
Firefighters arrived, but they, too, could not save the baby girl from the inferno yesterday at 649 S. Wayne Ave.
Last night, Neese, 38, was in stable condition at Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University with injuries that weren't seen as life-threatening. The baby's mother, whose name was not immediately available, also was treated at the hospital.
The month-old girl is Catherine Neese, said Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak.
A neighbor said Darrell Neese was downstairs listening to a baby monitor when he heard suspicious noises coming from upstairs. He tried to rescue the infant, but by that time the smoke and flames upstairs were so oppressive, he had to retreat outdoors for air. He fell out of the home's front door gasping for breath, a neighbor said.
Neighbors then tried to rescue the baby but were pushed back by thick smoke.
"I just ran over there and ran up the (interior) steps, and dropped on the floor, and the smoke was too much," said Aron Alexander, 30, who lives across the street from the frame house. "Downstairs was fine, but as soon as you got up the steps it was just black, just pure black.
"I dropped on the ground and tried getting under the smoke, but there was no getting under the smoke. It was just right in your face."
Alexander and another neighbor then attempted another rescue through a back window using a ladder, but again had to retreat.
Alexander said the couple had just gotten through a difficult pregnancy, but after the baby was born everyone seemed happy and healthy.
"And then this happened," he said.
By the time the fire department arrived several minutes into the fire, flames were shooting from the upstairs windows, neighbors said.
"I saw the smoke coming out upstairs, and I realized then that (the mother) was screaming 'My baby! My baby's up there!'" said another neighbor, Annette Pepple, 60. She called 911. "As soon as I got off the phone with the fire department, I just started praying. I knew there was nothing I could do."
The baby was in a bedroom, Battalion Chief Doug Belcher said. Neese had burns on his arms, he said.
The Fire Division assigned four investigators to the case.
"When there's a fatality, we want to make sure we get (the cause of the fire) right, so it's going to be awhile," Belcher said. He couldn't immediately say whether the infant died of burns or smoke inhalation, but statistics say that smoke inhalation is more frequently the cause of death than actual burns, he said.
The fire shook Alexander into realizing the necessity of a simple $8 smoke detector. He said he planned to head to a store yesterday to pick up a couple for his own house, after having seen what it's like to get caught in a fire.
Copyright 2014 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
