By Amanda Seitz, Greg Lynch
The Journal-News
HAMILTON, Ohio — A Hamilton man said he was simply being a “good Samaritan” when he rescued a man trapped in a burning home that collapsed just moments later.
Michael Campbell said he was driving down the 800 block of Ross Avenue around 3:30 p.m. Friday when his car was rattled and he was physically shaken by an explosion from a house on the street.
“I felt in my chest,” Campbell said of the explosion while he recounted the incident at the scene of the ruined home Saturday morning.
Campbell said he got out of the car and then feared children could be possibly trapped in the home, which was engulfed by smoke and flames.
“I got out, stood there and watched and said, ‘Wait, somebody’s yelling.’ I just took off at that point in time,” he said.
Campbell said he bolted into the white, two-story home and began yelling to find the man trapped inside. He ran up a flight of spiral stairs, pushed open the door to a bedroom and found a man inside, who Campbell described as “cut up” and trapped under a pile of debris in a room that had “nothing left at all.”
Campbell pulled the man out from the debris, helped him down the spiral staircase in the home and by the time the two made it down to the first floor of the home, the roof had collapsed. Campbell estimates he was in the home between one and two minutes.
“By the time I got out, collapsed and looked up, that whole room was gone,” Campbell said, describing flames that reached 30 feet high.
That Ross Avenue house explosion sent two people to the hospital Friday night, including Campbell who said he was released Friday evening after being treated for smoke inhalation.
Police have not yet released the name or ages of the victims. Officials from the Hamilton police or fire departments were not immediately available Saturday to confirm Campbell’s story but in a press release Friday, city officials said a man was found on the second floor of the residence following the house explosion.
The victim who was found in the house was first taken to Fort Hamilton Hospital, then later taken by CareFlight to University Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, according to Friday’s news release. The condition of that victim was not available.
Police and fire crews arrived on scene Friday just after 3:30 p.m. and found heavy fires and significant damage to the house. Still, crews were able to contain the fire just to the home.
Police and fire crews along with the State Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating what caused the explosion. No cause has been established at this time.
Campbell winced at the label of being called a “hero.” He said that label should be bestowed upon the firefighters who contained the fire.
“I’m not a hero, man,” Campbell said. “I have nieces and nephews, and if they were trapped in a house like this I really hope that someone would have helped them.”
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(c)2014 the Journal-News (Hamilton, Ohio)
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