A Shillington couple and their infant child were taken to Reading Hospital after a harrowing escape from their smoke-filled home early Friday morning with the help of a volunteer firefighter who arrived seconds after the 9-1-1 dispatch.

Shillington Fire Company Capt. Todd Whiskeyman was already in his vehicle when the dispatch went out shortly after 6 a.m.

“I was on my way to work, and I was about 1½ blocks away," Whiskeyman said.

He was the first responder to arrive at the fire in an end-of-row home at 128 Second St.

“I heard a baby crying when I got there,” Whiskeyman said later Friday morning. “There was a pretty good smoke condition at that point. I yelled in there.

“Someone answered. They said they couldn’t find the door. I shone my flashlight into the home and told them to walk toward my voice.”

The couple came out with their baby. Whiskeyman called for an ambulance because the occupants had suffered smoke inhalation.

Shillington police officers, meanwhile, alerted the occupants of the adjoining home and they got out safely.

Whiskeyman requested a second alarm because the smoke from the basement fire was intensifying, and volunteer manpower is typically in short supply in the early morning hours.

Crews quickly put the fire out, limiting structural damage to the basement. The rest of the house sustained smoke and water damage, Whiskeyman said.

The medical condition of the couple and their baby was unavailable.

Whiskeyman said the couple indicated they were alerted to the fire by a smoke alarm. When he arrived, they were at the bottom of the interior stairs but unable to see the door because the smoke was so thick.

A state police fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.

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