Toddler Trapped In Burning House Survives
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PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) - Family friends are detailing the moments a little boy was trapped inside a home as it burned. Firefighters tell us they now believe the fire started downstairs and spread to the second floor where that little boy was locked in a room. Friends of the family tell us the mother tried to get him out to no avail.
Friends kept coming by Friday to help with cleanup and to see the charred remains of Juany Spevak's home the day after it caught fire.
"Her son was playing in the family room area when she heard a pop of some sort," family friend Carlos Salinas said.
Despite a burn to her hand, Salinas says Spevak is recovering well, but she's still in shock after finding her family room on fire as her 5-year-old son, Gabriel ran upstairs.
"Then she tried to run after her son and the door was locked, and she saw the smoke... it was terrible, so she tried the window. He would not open the door. So she tried to grab that ladder and go up there and tried to break the window," Salinas said.
As the flames grew, Spevak ran downstairs and tried to find anyone passing by who could help.
Officers Russell Harris and Mark Jones were the first to get to the house. From outside, they could see the boy struggling to escape.
"They saw Gabriel knocking at the window with his little hands, so they went up there and got him out," Salinas said.
Firefighters were able to get both the mother and her son to a hospital. The officers were also treated for smoke inhalation, and all are expected to be alright.
"If the police wouldn't have been here, it would have been a fatal situation," Salinas said, "We appreciate everything they do for us. We should always be thinking of them."
The boy was transferred to Children's Hospital in Dallas, and Salinas says at last check he was breathing on his own.
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