Neighbors Rescue Tenn. Children Through Windows at Memphis Structure Fire

Zachary Thomas was walking toward his home in the 4400 block of Medley Lane Thursday morning when he noticed smoke coming from a house on the street.

When he sprinted to the site, he found his pregnant neighbor on the lawn, clothed in underwear and a T-shirt. One of her sons was yelling for help because two children were still inside.

"I was trying to calm her down because she's pregnant, and I didn't want her to go into early labor," Thomas said. "I had some slippers on, and I gave her my shoes. A guy from across the street gave her some pants."

Then Thomas ran into the burning house because he didn't know that two neighborhood teens already had pulled the children out through windows.

Banderas Walker, 15, and Michael Ellis, 19, had grabbed the children and rushed them to safety.

"It was so hot that I stood in my back yard and I still felt the heat," Walker said.

The Memphis Fire Department got the call to the Oakhaven neighborhood at 9:27 a.m. and had the fire out by 9:46, according to spokesman Lt. Wayne Cooke. The mother was taken to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, Cooke said, and the children were taken to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. All were in noncritical condition, suffering from smoke inhalation.

The fire also damaged the house of Antoinette Williams, 35, who lives next door.

"I have to get assistance from the Red Cross because it burned my (utility) meter, and I don't have electricity now," Williams said. "The fire busted my daughter's window and started burning her curtains. The firefighters noticed and put it out."

Williams' roof also was damaged but, she said, "I am very thankful because it could've been both houses" that were destroyed.

Not much was left of the house where the fire started but the wood framing, which was charred black, and pink insulation that drooped from the remains. By 1:30 p.m. keep out signs were stapled to what was left of the structure.

Christopher Brassel, 31, said the community will continue to help the family.

"I have four children. I'm going to go through all their clothes that are too small for them. I'm going to gather them up and give them to her because I know they lost everything," Brassel said.

""Everybody on the street is going to help," Thomas said. "It's the right thing to do."

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