Keith Wilt could feel the heat from the flames. The black smoke was so thick he couldn't see his hands in front of him. He relied on a co-worker's voice and children's screams as he fumbled his way through a burning Reservoir Hill home last month.
It's a day Wilt and fellow construction workers Edward Wilton, Matthew Geppi and Steve Wyatt say they will never forget. On Wednesday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Fire Chief Niles R. Ford recognized them for their bravery.
The four men, employees of Willbros T&D Services East, were updating BGE gas lines in the neighborhood Jan. 13 when they heard screams coming from the burning home on Whitelock Street. They ran to the home and rescued two boys and a man trapped inside.
They were unaware that 1-year-old Nasir Smith was also in the home. The toddler died in the blaze, just five days shy of his second birthday. It was the city's first fire death of 2015.
The man they rescued was Nasir's father, Vernon Smith Sr., who was critically injured. The boys suffered some injuries and smoke inhalation, a fire spokesman said.
The Fire Department said a space heater kept too close to a bed caused the fire.
Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday that the four men "represent the best of us," and described how they risked their lives to look for the children.
"They didn't think about their own well-being," she said.
Ford, who was at the scene that day, recalled that one of the workers called the responding firefighters heroes.
"No, you are all the heroes today," Ford said. He handed each man a gold Fire Department challenge coin.
When the men reached the burning home, Wilt said, a woman told them there were children inside.
He and his co-workers said they were prepared to try to save the children despite the heavy smoke and flames pouring out. Their flame-retardant uniforms provided some protection, and they had a fire extinguisher in their truck.
Inside the home, they found Vernon Smith Sr. badly burned on the first floor, and dragged him out. His skin and clothes appeared melted, they said.
"I will never forget it," Wilt said.
He continued up the stairs, along with Geppi, who held the fire extinguisher and called out for the children.
"It was hot as hell," Wilt said. "You can't see your hand in front of you."
"It was just a like a movie," Geppi recalled. He said he kept calling out to Wilt so he could stay oriented while he looked for the children upstairs.
"I just kept calling his name," Geppi said.
Wilt followed the children's voices until he found them in a bedroom behind a window curtain. He said he didn't immediately realize he had reached a window, even though it was still daylight out.
Wilt said he scooped up the kids, handed one over to Geppi and carried the other.
Geppi said he continued to use the fire extinguisher as they made their way back from the second floor, down the steps and out to safety.
Wyatt said Geppi and Wilt emerged from the home and handed the children to medics who had arrived in an ambulance.
After a quick check of the workers' vital signs and some oxygen, they returned to their job.
They were scheduled, they said, to work late that day.
twitter.com/janders5