Young Bicyclist Saves Children In Apartment Fire
Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2003 12:44 pm
From KXAS NBC5 Dallas/Ft. Worth:
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Some families in Abilene are praising a 22-year-old man named Chris Leija who reportedly risked his life to save some children trapped in an apartment fire.
Leija was riding his bike around 3 a.m. Sunday when he said he saw the flames and rushed to the scene.
"I started running up through the backside and I got up on the second floor and I started knocking on people's doors. A little kid opened up the door and then I seen him, his mom there and other kids and the first thing I just did I just grabbed a kid in a car carrier, ran her out all the way out here and then I just turned back and I heard the Fire Department and police officers telling me to come back, don't go nowhere, come back, and I just had to run back and get two more kids that I had still left in there," Leija said.
Remarkably, no one was killed or seriously hurt in the fire, but 70 families were left homeless by the blaze, which was reportely one of the worst in the city's history.
Abilene fire investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire.
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Some families in Abilene are praising a 22-year-old man named Chris Leija who reportedly risked his life to save some children trapped in an apartment fire.
Leija was riding his bike around 3 a.m. Sunday when he said he saw the flames and rushed to the scene.
"I started running up through the backside and I got up on the second floor and I started knocking on people's doors. A little kid opened up the door and then I seen him, his mom there and other kids and the first thing I just did I just grabbed a kid in a car carrier, ran her out all the way out here and then I just turned back and I heard the Fire Department and police officers telling me to come back, don't go nowhere, come back, and I just had to run back and get two more kids that I had still left in there," Leija said.
Remarkably, no one was killed or seriously hurt in the fire, but 70 families were left homeless by the blaze, which was reportely one of the worst in the city's history.
Abilene fire investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire.