SYRACUSE --
Mike Stevens says he’s usually asleep by nine thirty at night but a long day at work had kept him out later than expected on Monday night. He was just getting something to eat when he smelled smoke coming from the apartment directly below his. Firefighters say what happened next took a lot of guts and may have saved lives. Stevens and neighbor Tatkeata Lewis rushed to the door of the burning apartment and heard children screaming for help inside. "The window was breaking, shattered... you could here things popping inside the house, fire was blazing,” said Lewis. “My instinct was to get those kids out of there and move quickly."
Lewis and Stevens were able to pull five year old Troy Boatwright, Jr. out of a window and then Stevens kicked the front door down. "As soon as Mike hit the door, the smoke just came out - boom- everything was dark in that house,” said Lewis
The rescuers then saw a frightened baby near the door. "I saw him backing up away from the door because he was scared so I got on my knees and crawled on the floor,” said Lewis. “I grabbed his left arm, pulled him out and I shielded him with my shirt and ran out.”
Just moments after Mike and the two children got out, the front of the house was engulfed in flames. Lewis and Stevens attempted to go back in but could not get past the smoke and fire. Firefighters on the scene were faced with a wall of flames and quickly learned that there were more people in the house. Two teams of firefighters entered through back windows. "At that point the fire was still not out in the front and they're operating in the back where there was a tremendous smoke condition and very high heat conditions back there,” said Syracuse District Fire Chief Mark McLees.
Firefighters were able to pass two year old Jrelle Boatwright and his grandfather Dallas Holmes though kitchen windows to rescuers outside. Both were unconscious and listed in critical condition at University Hospital.
