As Cincinnati firefighters poured water on the smoldering remains of her South Fairmount home Thursday afternoon, Nikole Hatton huddled with her three children and heaped praise on her daughter, Kreshauna.

Cincinnati firefighters work on the front porch of the Knox Street home. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        “We could have been dead if she didn't wake us up. We were all asleep and my 8-year-old, she went to use the bathroom and ... (then) she hollered upstairs that the couch was on fire.”

        Kreshauna, her 10- and 2-year-old siblings, and her mother crawled through the smoke to an outside door of their Knox Street home.

        “I started throwing my kids out the back door. The living room was on fire,” Ms. Hatton recalled.

        Steve Pelcha was on his way to work about 11:25 a.m. when he saw smoke from Interstate 75. He followed the smoke and got to the house just as the family was coming out.

        Mr. Pelcha grabbed the children as Ms. Hatton, 26, handed them over the fence to him.

        “I was just glad to get the kids out of the house. That's the main thing,” said Mr. Pelcha, 22, of Mount Washington.

        The fire caused $75,000 damage to the house and $4,000 to a house next door, Cincinnati District Fire Chief Randy Freel said. The cause remains under investigation, but a fire official said it does not appear to be suspicious.

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