BY ALLEN HOWARD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
William Sayers, 34, doesn't like the tag "hero," but he was pinned with it after helping to usher his neighbors out of their burning College Hill apartments and into safety.
The early morning blaze Saturday routed residents from the first and second floors of the 12-unit apartment building in the 1900 Block of Savannah Way while causing $25,000 damage.
"I had just got up to get a drink of water when I heard the smoker detector alarm go off," said Mr. Sayers from a room at the Drake Motel in Sycamore Township, where all residents of the apartment were housed by the Red Cross. The electricity in the apartment was knocked out.
Cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Mr. Sayers said he saw flames coming from the next door basement apartment occupied by Carl Birch, where the fire started. He said he smashed in a window and tried to use a fire extinguisher, but it had little effect.
"I went and got another extinguisher, went to the back door, knocked it down and took a wet towel in with me while I extinguished what I could," Mr. Sayers said. The fire was confined to Mr. Birch's apartment.
Mr. Sayers said that after he assisted Mr. Birch to safety he searched the room while keeping the wet towel around his head.
Fire officials at the scene credited Mr. Sayers' quick actions with helping to prevent more serious injuries to Mr. Birch, who suffered smoke inhalation.
"I think the most impressive thing was how others in the building helped to get everybody out. It wasn't just me," Mr. Sayers said.
Mr. Sayers is accustomed to a daredevil lifestyle. He installs radio towers for the Brookstone Telcom Co. in Sharonville, a job that keeps him in a danger zone up in the air most of the time.
"I think I have been twice as high as the Empire State Building," he said.
When disaster came calling Saturday morning, Mr. Sayers was ready for the task.
He grew up around high towers and hospital emergency rooms. He said at age 13, he started working for his father, Michael, a volunteer firefighter for Fairfield who also owned a telephone tower company. His mother, Patricia, is a retired emergency room nurse from Mercy North.
"I have been in and out of emergency rooms with my mother and climbing towers all my life. I have also been in emergency rooms many times when I suffered fractured bones," he said.
