By Allen Howard
The Cincinnati Enquirer

When fire broke out, Donald Kornegay (front) of Lower Price Hill was carried down these stairs by Cinergy worker Richard Carpenter (rear) and neighbor Brian Sexton while Cinergy's Willie Edwards alerted other neighbors. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

Donald Kornegay, 39, lay on a couch on the second floor of his apartment at 2150 Storrs St., Lower Price Hill, recovering from a hip replacement operation while fire and smoke spread through the first floor last week.

He couldn't move. His only wish was that someone would get his two children, ages 16 and 4, out of the building.

"If I had to die, I didn't want them to die with me," he said.

Two Cinergy service mechanics who drew on their years of safety training came to the rescue.

Richard Carpenter, 33, of Forest Park and Willie Edwards, 43 of Springfield Township, were remodeling a gas meter nearby when they saw smoke coming from the building.

As they rushed toward the fire, two children ran out and said their father was trapped inside and could not move.

Edwards went through the building to alert other residents while Carpenter and Brian Sexton, 43, who lives on the third floor, carried Kornegay to safety.

"That was a close call," Kornegay said. "When the guy upstairs (Sexton) said the building was on fire, I said, `Just get my kids out of here.' I knew I couldn't move."

His children, Donte, 16, and Christanie, 4, ran screaming for help.

"I knew he couldn't move and we couldn't get him out. I started calling for help," Donte said

Carpenter said the heat was starting to melt the window frame as they arrived. During the confusion, Carpenter and Edwards said, safety training guided them to do the right thing.

"Everything happened so fast," Carpenter said. "They are calling us heroes, but I don't think of us as heroes. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and did what needed to be done."

Edwards was involved in a similar situation in 2001 for which he received the Ohio Gas Association's Award of Merit for Safety. He carried a 75-year-man who had fallen and broken his hip from a burning building.

Jerry Baird, manager of service delivery, nominated Edwards for the award.

Baird said: "I am extremely proud of the courageous and quick actions Willie and Richard displayed. Without hesitation, both men called upon their safety training and were able to safely rescue the disabled man."

Kornegay, a gravedigger, said he has to return to the hospital on March 1 for further surgery. He had the hip replacement operation on Jan. 17.

He said the family - wife, Christina and two other children; Crystal, 7, and Donovon, 15 - just moved from a shelter, operated by the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cincinnati, 2110 St. Michael St., Lower Price Hill.

"This incident was a tragedy mixed with a blessing. I am so thankful that they came to my rescue.

"When I told them I couldn't move, they just picked me up took me out. They wrapped me up in a blanket after they got me outside," Kornegay said.

The fire was confined to the first floor. Capt Dan Rottmueller, a Cincinnati fire investigator, said a child playing with matches caused the fire. The damage was set at $5,000.

E-mail ahoward@enquirer.com