It is every firefighter's worst nightmare a radio report to East St. Louis, IL, firefighters en route to a fire at 1336 Piggott Ave. on Nov. 8, 1995, indicated there was a child trapped in the building. But things got worse five times worse.
At 9:27 P.M., Engines 425 and 424 and Battalion Chief 420 were dispatched to the fire in the four-family flat.
Battalion Chief Levester Heavens has seen a lot in his 30 years on the job in the East St. Louis Fire Department, and the scene upon his arrival was as chaotic as any. Heavens was the first firefighter on the scene. Fire was blowing out the first- and second-story windows; flames had broken through the rear roof of the two-story building.
Photo by Pete Stehman Seven members of the East St. Louis, IL, Fire Department were honored for their work in pulling five children to safety during a fire in this home in November 1995.
Police officers told Heavens they had tried to reach the area where the child was trapped on the second floor but were driven back by intense heat and smoke. Bystanders were screaming, one of them a mother who Heavens literally had to wrestle with in order to do his job. "My initial thinking was to just try to get control," Heavens said.
Because of the heavy fire showing, Heavens ordered the first-due company (Engine 425) to connect to a hydrant in order to attempt rescue. A plug was just on the corner, easily connected with a single section of five-inch supply line. Heavens also called for Engine 426, a 75-foot quint. Engine 425, under the direction of 23-year veteran Captain Otis Hudson, stretched 1 3/4-inch handlines.
Pump Operator Lieutenant Hearie Eastern directed a pre-piped 1,250-gpm deluge to knock out the visible fire on the first and second floors and push it away from where the child was reported to be trapped. Exterior fire on an exposure at 1338 Piggott was also blacked down. Engine 424, directed by another 23-year veteran, Captain Robert Bush, arrived and began to assist as a handline was advanced up the interior stairs within 10 feet of the front door. Bush, Hudson, Heavens and Firefighters Keith Rice (Engine 425) and Edward Wayne (Engine 424 ) pushed the fire back with one handline and worked toward the room at the front of the house where the child was reportedly located.
Wayne and Rice, working in self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), were at the top of the stairs when the fire flashed out at them forcefully. A door fell on them, knocking the pair back down the steps. Rice sustained a fractured hand while Wayne also suffered slight injuries. Despite the injuries, the two firefighters pressed back up the stairs, declining any treatment.
They worked down the hallway until they spotted a doorway with fire raging above it. "I hope we don't have to go in there," Rice said he thought to himself. They found, however, that the doorway was the only one to enter. As Bush pushed back the fire with the 1 3/4-inch hose from a doorway position, Rice and Wayne began their search.
Rice shone a handlight as he crawled through the room. He heard a moan and worked toward it. He was surprised to see not one but two young victims lying next to each other on the floor. Rice grabbed the girl and Wayne grabbed the boy adjacent to her. They took the children to the top of the stairs, where they were relayed down to Heavens and Hudson. After taking the children outside to EMS workers, Hudson and Heavens rushed back inside to tell the second-story crew that another child was still missing. Lieutenant Daniel Haskenhoff of Engine 424 began searching other areas of the second floor. As the fire was freely venting, visibility in some areas of the second floor remained fairly clear.
Again under cover from Bush's handline, Rice and Wayne searched the adjacent rooms again. All the while, the fire raged above them, burning through gaping holes in the roof. They found two more children in the room and again passed them down to Heavens and Hudson. When those two victims were taken outside, bystanders continued to scream that yet another child was missing. Hudson told Bush, Rice and Wayne there was another victim. "We said, 'What??' " Rice recalled.
Exhausted and incredulous, the firefighters again searched the area where the other children had been found. They located the fifth child near the front window where heavy fire had been blowing out and was blacked down with a deluge pipe. By the time that fifth victim was pulled out, no more ambulances were available on the scene. As life support was initiated, the youngster was transported in an East St. Louis police car.
A subsequent report that a sixth child was in the structure was quickly determined to be unfounded. All told, the rescues had taken under 15 minutes.
Firefighters remained on the scene another five hours until the last of the fire was overhauled and out.
The two firefighters who did much of the rescue work that night were both rookies. Rice has been on the job under two years while Wayne has been on less than one year. Both were still taking firefighting classes through the department and a local community college but like most East St. Louis firefighters, they get their best training on the job. "You can't teach rescue like that. They sure didn't have to be pushed in there," Heavens said.
The battalion chief also praised the East St. Louis Police Department for its assistance in traffic and crowd control, pulling hose and for transporting the fifth victim to the hospital.
Heavens is understandably proud of how his "A" shift responded to the challenge, particularly given the limitations of operating with three-person engine companies. "We've got to go in and get it," Heavens said. Including Chief Verge Riley and Deputy Chief Jerry Humphrey, only 15 fire personnel operated on a scene that could have drawn 100 firefighters in many cities. (A reserve engine was sent late to the fire scene.)
Investigation revealed the fire was started by an adult who had been carelessly smoking in a first-floor apartment. Although the blaze spread very rapidly, seven children who had been in the apartment of origin went upstairs to alert an adult friend. Nine children were upstairs when conditions deteriorated too quickly to allow time for escape. The adults and four of the children were able to escape out of the windows prior to fire department arrival.
The five injured children suffered severe burns, some third degree, prior to their rescue by firefighters. They were initially treated at St. Mary's Hospital in East St. Louis, then transported to burn centers in St. Louis and later in Ohio. The injured were identified as Richard Harden, 6; Natahjua Smith, 4; Lamont Agnew, 3; Lamonica Agnew, 3; and Elijah Branch, 2.
Even with all that activity, the night was not over for East St. Louis firefighters. As Heavens was taking Rice to the hospital for treatment of his hand fracture, a fire was reported involving three homes two vacant and one occupied. The fire was only a short distance away, in the 1400 block of Baker Street. A reserve pumper that had been manned earlier and Engines 422 and 424 put out the second major fire that night. lt was a busy evening, even by East St. Louis standards.
Riley is also proud of how his men responded that night. "It was a very well coordinated effort ... on any given day we could have lost those kids." But he acknowledged the job was made much easier because of the new apparatus and increased manning the department now has available. Heavens agreed: "Two years ago, this would have been a catastrophe."
The Southwestern Illinois Firefighters Association on Dec. 12, 1995, presented Meritorious Service Awards to Heavens, Hudson, Bush, Eastern, Haskenhoff, Rice and Wayne.
Pete Stehman
Pete Stehman is a firefighter with the Collinsville, IL, Fire Department.
