CLEVELAND — Three young children make it out of a burning home alive -- with the help of security guards and a veteran firefighter.
All of their quick-thinking saved lives.
The fire broke out around 2:35 a.m. Sunday in an apartment at the Arbor Village Park on East 38th Street and Bivens in Cleveland.
That’s when off-duty police officers, Steve Pozniak and his partner Ernest Leach -- who patrol the grounds at the complex -- heard screams coming from the area.
They rushed to the scene, and when they arrived, Pozniak says, “There was a young child hanging her body out the window trying to breathe. There was a lot of smoke coming out the window.”
Pozniak drove his patrol car right against the building, stood on top of it, and encouraged her to jump.
He says, she was scared, but eventually took the leap.
“I almost caught her,” he says. “Her weight coming down on me brought me down on the vehicle, but it definitely slowed her down.”
Still inside though, was her one-year old sister. And mom, could do nothing but watch helplessly.
Lt. Mike Norman, the Public Information Officer for the Cleveland Fire Department told us, "The mother tried to go back into that house, but she was unable to, and the Security Guard's partner tried to go upstairs, but he said the smoke and the heat was just too much."
Leach, who ran into the house while his partner was coaxing the 8 year old from the window said, "I was in the house for maybe 20 seconds, and just felt like my lungs couldn't hold anything. I had to back out for safety purposes. Otherwise, the Fire Department would be pulling out three, instead of two.”
That's when 26-year veteran firefighter Captain Tom Lally rolled up on the scene.
He bravely ran into the building before the crews' water lines were even deployed, rescuing the 1 year old, whose body was lifeless.
Lally says, "When you're inside the structure, the only thing you're really thinking about is it's pitch black, it's hot, and you want to get that child outside. So, you're not even aware sometimes if they're not breathing or if their pulse is…”
The Captain, who's saved and lost children before, says had he arrived just a few seconds later, that child might not have made it.
"It’s something you try not to think about too much. Because these are events that do shape your life. If everybody didn't do their job, you yourself may not have made it out of there alive."
The 1-year-old child Lally rescued was resuscitated at the scene and rushed to Metro Health Medical Center in critical condition. She's expected to survive. Her 6-year old brother, who was also in the house, made it out with mom.
And even though the two security officers who were untrained in fire rescue, ran into the building and managed to save one child, they refer to Captain Lally as “Superman”.
The fire department says this all started in the kitchen from a cooking fire.