LOUISVILLE, Ky. --
A teenager and a stranger ran inside a burning building to save several people, including four young children, at the Nottingham Court Apartments in the 3200 block of Orchard Manor Circle in Hikes Point.
Around 7 p.m. Wednesday, 15-year-old Nadine Blihar noticed one of the units in her Hikes Point apartment building was on fire.
"There were flames bursting out of the windows," Blihar said. "And I screamed because I got so scared just knowing that my nephew was in there."
Blihar was babysitting her nieces and nephews -- ages 8, 3, 2 and 4 months.
"There was a young girl screaming there was kids inside," said Dennis Scott, a neighbor. "So I guess my adrenaline just kicked in and we ran in and started kicking doors."
Scott said one of the doors he kicked open was to the apartment on the second floor, where a man was asleep on the couch inside.
"We kicked the first door where the fire was at and he came running out with the smoke," Scott said. "It was cloudy and the smoke was kind of thick. But once we kicked on the door where the fire was, it really poured out. It really got thick."
With smoke filling the building, Scott said he helped Blihar rescue her 4-month-old nephew.
"It just seemed like a flash," Blihar said. "I don't even remember running through the house. I just remember seeing smoke and getting him and handing him off and running back up to the other kids."
"She ran in with me," Scott said. "And she picked him up and I grabbed him from her and we both ran out."
Everyone made it out of the burning building safely.
A short time later, about 25 firefighters from four companies arrived on the scene, put out the fire and began sifting through rubble, trying to figure out how it started.
"There's a total of 12 units," said McMahan Fire District Chief Joe Johnson. "Two of them are damaged."
"I'm 21 and I just had my son," Scott said. "And I guess I thought about him and if it was my child, and I ran in."
"I would do it all over again," Blihar said. "I just want to see everyone safe."
Firefighters from the McMahan Fire District, Jeffersontown, Beuchel and St. Matthews responded to the scene.
Johnson said smoke alarms were going off in the hallways of the building.
No one was injured.
Copyright 2010 by WLKY.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
