A decorator who caught two children in his arms from a burning building as their mother desperately threw them to safety has told media ‘doesn’t feel like a hero’.
Gediminas Radzevicius, 39, rushed to help when a fire broke out at his neighbour’s home in Barking, Essex, on the night of Monday, March 6.
Mr Radzevicius described how he heard the fire alarm and took his family outside, when his wife started shouting that there was a woman trying to throw her children from the smoke-filled flat.
He then ran over to reach the children as the woman clung on to them.
Mr Radzevicius said: ‘When she saw that I [was trying] to catch them she started to drop them’.
Gediminas Radzevicius, 39, rushed to help when a fire broke out at his neighbour’s home in Barking, Essex, on the night of Monday, March 6.
The three-room flat on the second floor of a building on Stern Close, Barking was destroyed by the blaze, which emergency services were called to at 3.25am
Sadly, an 11-year-old boy, named locally as Daniel, died in the fire, while the other two children were taken to hospital along with two women who were also in the flat at the time.
A man was also treated at the scene in east London.
The three-room flat on the second floor of a building on Stern Close, Barking was destroyed by the blaze, which emergency services were called to at 3.25am.
The Met Police said that ‘at this this early stage’ the fire ‘does not appear to be suspicious’.
One resident, Dan, who lives in a house opposite the flats, said he saw a woman standing on the balcony shouting for help.
Dan, who did not wish to give his surname, added: ‘We heard screaming when it first happened.
‘And then we saw a woman on the balcony talking to someone. I think she we on the phone to the emergency services.
‘The fire brigade turned up within five minutes. She was still standing on the balcony on the phone to them when they arrived.
A still from CCTV footage shows smoke filled in the foyer of the block of flats
A three-room flat on the second floor of a building on Stern Close, Barking was destroyed by the blaze, which emergency services were called to at 3.25am
Two adults and two children left the flat before firefighters arrived and were taken to hospital
‘I could see three or four people outside on the ground by that point, but there was too much smoke to see who they were.’
Another neighbour who asked not to be named, said she was woken up around 3.30am by shouting.
She said: ‘I woke up this morning and I could hear all this shouting – there was smoke everywhere.
‘There’s a lot of kids that live in that block.
‘It’s absolutely tragic. That poor boy.’
One neighbour said a family including a mother, father and at least two children living at the property but this has not been confirmed by police.
Sadly, one child was pronounced dead at the scene. Police were called at 3.30am by London Fire Brigade
London Fire Brigade said in a statement: ‘The London Fire Brigade was called at 0325 and the incident was over for firefighters by 0518.
‘Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters from Barking, East Ham and surrounding fire stations were in attendance.
‘The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Brigade and Metropolitan Police Service.’
The Met Police said in a statement: ‘Police were called at 03:29hrs by London Fire Brigade (LFB) who were responding to reports of a fire at a residential address in Stern Close, Barking.
‘LFB attended and extinguished the fire.
‘London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance attended, sadly an 11-year-old boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
‘His next of kin have been informed.
‘Four other people, two adults and two children were taken to hospital, none were in a life threatening condition.
‘Police, in consultation with the LFB, are investigating the cause of the fire.
‘Enquiries continue, but at this this early stage, the fire does not appear to be suspicious.’
