By Liz Sidoti
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - The firefighters who rescued three college students from a fatal rooming house arson said Friday that the levels of smoke, heat and flame made the fire one of the most horrific they've experienced.

"I've never seen more fire. I've never seen darker, blacker smoke in my whole entire life," said firefighter Scott Kulpa, 31.

The four firefighters talked publicly for the first time Friday about the weekend fire, which killed five other students.

The rescues of Jillian Gardner, Jennifer Lehren and Josh Patterson took no more than 11/2 minutes from the time Columbus Fire Engine 13 arrived at the three-story brick house near Ohio State University early Sunday. Gardner was released from a hospital Friday. Patterson is in critical condition.

Authorities were searching for suspects and a motive in the blaze. Two Ohio State students and three students visiting from Ohio University died.

The four firefighters, whose years on the job range up to 10 years, don't consider themselves heroes, said Lt. Carl Jepson, 32, the crew's leader.

"We're doing our job," he said.

The crew said they knew they were heading into a dangerous situation when they could smell smoke blocks away. "It was after a Saturday night, it was 4 o'clock in the morning and it was on campus. You just knew," Kulpa said.

When the crew arrived, another was attacking the fire from the front, so Engine 13 firefighters raced up an alley behind the house.

They were told that people were trapped on the second floor, so they went up the back fire escape.

At that point, the smoke was only about six inches off the floor.

In the northeast bedroom, firefighters Mike Burnheimer, 33, and Brian Morstadt, 28, found Lehren, 20, of Centerville, standing. Burnheimer got her to lean on his back, and by the time he pulled her out the door, she was unconscious.

Across the hall, Kulpa bumped into something soft. It turned out to be Gardner, face down on the floor about 5 feet inside the door.

"By now you can't see anything ... I got as low to the ground as I possibly could. I almost kept on going because when I first touched her, I didn't know what it was," Kulpa recalled.

He pulled Gardner, 20, of Dublin, to the door and looked over his right shoulder.

"The fire was coming down the hallway so fast I can't even describe it," Kulpa said.

Because he had on protective gear, he lay down on top of Gardner.

"I took my arms and I fished them through her arms, and some way, I was able to crawl down the hallway with her underneath me because the fire was overtop my head," he said.

Meanwhile, Morstadt had searched the first room, now filled with smoke, found Patterson unconscious in a back corner, and was able to pull him feet first to the hallway.

"I got him to the doorway, but I needed help to get him out," Morstadt said. "He was lanky and hard to pull."

He and Kulpa managed to pull Patterson, 20, of West Chester Township, to safety.

"When we were down with the three victims on the ground we turned and looked up and the whole second floor was fully involved in fire," said Jepson.

It was only after putting out the flames that firefighters found the five bodies. Dr. Brad Lewis, the Franklin County coroner, said Friday that the five likely died of smoke inhalation and carbon-monoxide poisoning while trying to flee.