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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 01/16/2003 7:02:32 AM PST by smokinleroy
Rescuers saved a 4-year-old boy in Fort Worth and an elderly man in Dallas from separate fires Wednesday.
Fort Worth police said they would not pursue charges against the mother and aunt of a 4-year-old boy who had been left alone Wednesday and apparently set his North Side home on fire.
The child, who was not seriously injured, was rescued by a passer-by who saw the flames and pulled the boy to safety.
Several hours later in Dallas, maintenance workers pulled an elderly man from his burning second-floor apartment in the Love Field area. The 76-year-old was in critical condition Wednesday night at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
In the Fort Worth case, officials said it appeared that the child had been playing with matches in the living room and accidentally set furniture ablaze about 9 a.m. at the home in the 2700 block of Columbus Avenue. The child ran to a bedroom, closed the door and stood on a bed yelling for help. Fire investigators said he could have been overcome by smoke within minutes if he hadn't been rescued.
A woman driving alerted neighbors when she saw the boy through a window surrounded by smoke.
Joe Darter, a maintenance worker for the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school district, also saw the flames and raced to the home. He pulled an air-conditioning unit from the window and hauled the child to safety.
"I saw the flames, and something just made me turn back around and get to that house," Mr. Darter said. "I just did what I thought needed to be done."
The child was taken to Cook Children's Medical Center as a precaution but was released to his mother.
Police said a miscommunication between the child's mother and a 16-year-old aunt who lives next door resulted in the child being left alone.
According to police, the mother thought the aunt, who baby-sits the child five days a week, had picked up the child Wednesday. Meanwhile, the aunt went to the house for the child and, not seeing the mother or child, thought he was with his mother, so she decided to run an errand.
When she returned from the store, the aunt found that the house had burned and the child had been taken to the hospital.
"It's possible that the child could have been hiding from both of them," said Lt. Jesse Hernandez, a Fort Worth Police Department spokesman.
Police said Child Protective Services officials were called to the hospital, but CPS officials said they had not removed the child from his mother's custody.
The Dallas fire started before 3 p.m. in the Hub Apartments in the 3100 block of Hudnall Street. Ralph Smith suffered second- and third-degree burns to his upper body, fire officials said.
J.J. DeLeon, one of Mr. Smith's rescuers, said he and another maintenance worker saw smoke and kicked in Mr. Smith's door to enter the dark, smoky apartment. Inside, he said he could hear Mr. Smith moaning, but he could not see him.
He said he found Mr. Smith in the bedroom, where the mattress was on fire.
"I was gagging from the smoke, but I dragged him to the kitchen," Mr. De Leon said. He said the other maintenance man pulled Mr. Smith out of the apartment.
That fire, which caused about $40,000 damage, is under investigation, Dallas fire officials said.
E-mail lfox@dallasnews.com
and teiserer@dallasnews.com
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