TARENTUM, Pa -- A house fire in Tarentum sent a woman and her two young children to a Pittsburgh hospital early Monday morning.
The fire broke out at about 12:30 a.m. at a duplex on the 1100 block of Bakerstown Road.
Terra Lynn, her 11-year-old daughter Alexis, and her 8-year-old son Tyler were first taken to Alle-Kiski Medical Center, before being transferred to West Penn Hospital.
Video - Watch Amber Nicotra's Report From TarentumFire investigators said it appears the fire started in a basement and that the family was in an upstairs hallway when the flames started.
"When the assistant chief got here on scene, he was the first here, they had smoke coming out of the second floor. And he went in through the door and actually pulled all three of them out," said Chief John Hudec of the Summit Hose Fire Company.
"When I got on scene, just going through my head, 'I have kids of my own, just do what you've got to do to get them out,'" said Assistant Fire Chief Michael Remper.
Remper has been a volunteer firefighter for 13 years. He told Channel 4 Action News reporter Amber Nicotra he's used to arriving to fight fires in the middle of the night. When the call came just about the fire on Bakerstown Road, just minutes from his own home, he said he over and rushed inside.
"I heard kids screaming upstairs and I looked at the top of the stairs. There was flames. The kids actually jumped onto me and I pulled the mom out, pulled all three of them out," Remper said.
Remper said he and Brackenridge Patrolman Michael Duffy arrived first. They said they grabbed extinguishers and tried to fight the fire until crews arrived.
"In the back of my head I kept thinking about my own kids. What would I do? I put my life on the line, like anybody else would do," Remper said.
Remper said he's just grateful everyone made it out alive.
"I was just worried about getting them out safely, which I did, thank God. Nobody got hurt, really. I'm just glad they're all alive right now," Remper said.
The victims were treated for smoke inhalation and one person was treated for minor burns, emergency responders said. The fire chief told Nicotra that all three victims are expected to recover.
Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.
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