TWINSBURG, Ohio (WJW) – Firefighters rescued an 8-month old baby from a two-alarm house fire in Ohio.
The first call for help to 911 came in around 12:20 p.m. on Sunday. The homeowner was panicked and out of breath, saying, “Hello, hello, we have a fire in the basement with a baby in the basement.”
He had already escaped the Twinsburg home with two other young children and kept trying to get back inside to save the baby in a basement bedroom, but the smoke and heat was too intense.
“I can’t, I can’t get down there,” he said, breathing heavily.
Dispatchers alerted other departments for mutual aid and Twinsburg police arrived on Simsbury Drive.
They rushed into the house, trying to rescue the baby but also were driven back by the intense smoke.
Twinsburg firefighter Joshua Jarzab said when he and his crew got on scene, they were focused and determined to save the baby.
“I didn’t hear anything except there was a baby in the basement,” he said.
The house was filled with smoke and the basement was pitch black.
Basement fires are particularly difficult, he said, because there is only one way in and one way out but it’s what he and his crew train for every day.
He said they immediately began performing what’s called VEIS — Vent, Enter, Isolate and Search — equipped with a water can, irons for forceful entry and a thermal imager.
“We weren’t going to leave that basement until that baby was found,” Jarzab said. “We saw the fire, but that wasn’t our priority. Our priority was finding this baby.”
He said, “luckily by the grace of God,” they located the bedroom door. He knew it was the right location because he could make out a child’s safety lock.
“When I opened it up, I could see the little guy poking his head out over the crib.”
From there, things moved swiftly. He lowered the baby to the floor due to smoke now filling the room and he began rushing to get him outside to fresh air where paramedics were waiting.
“So I held him as close as I could to my jacket and I moved,” he said.
The baby boy was in good condition and taken to Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood.
Other responding units included Solon, Oakwood Village, Aurora, Macedonia, Hudson and Streetsboro.
Josh said everyone worked together to contain the fire, but the parents’ actions also helped save their son by closing his door during his nap.
“In my opinion, it’s by the grace of God that I believe that door was closed. It’s so important to have these doors closed because if that door was open, smoke would have traveled into that bedroom and it would have, I think, turned out the opposite of this,” said Jarzab. “Having that door closed prevented everything.”
Several Twinsburg officers who attempted to make entry and the homeowner were evaluated and treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.
The fire remains under investigation.
Damages are estimated at over $90,000.
