By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLD SPRING - When 10-year-old Chelsea Deaton awoke at 1 a.m. Monday to smoke and flames in her Campbell County home, she went to work to save her family.

Chelsea grabbed her two younger sisters - 2-year-old Ivy and 6-year-old Shelby - from an adjoining bedroom and brought them to her room. She closed the door to keep the smoke out as she punched out the screen and pushed her two sisters out the first-floor window.

Then, thinking her mom was asleep downstairs, she stayed behind to find her.

It turns out her mother was not home; and firefighters say that Chelsea endured more smoke inhalation by standing in the hallway, calling for her mom.

Her mother, Rebecca Deaton, had left to pick something up at a grocery store, police said. She was gone about half an hour, said Detective Marty Hart of Campbell County police, and police said she was drunk when she drove home.

Hart said Deaton nearly struck two emergency workers as she tried to get to her home, and then used the remote-control garage door opener to pull into her garage. Hart said the woman was oblivious to the flames and smoke billowing from her home. Firefighters had to rescue her when she tried to close the garage door.

Deaton was arrested and charged with driving drunk. Hart said she refused to take tests that would reveal her level of intoxication.

By noon Monday, authorities had charged her with three felony counts of wanton endangerment. If convicted, she could be sent to prison for up to five years on each count.

Deaton remained at the Campbell County jail Monday afternoon on no bond. She will likely be arraigned in Campbell District Court on Wednesday.

"This little girl is a hero, no doubt about it," said Chief Gerald Sandfoss of the Central Campbell County Fire District. "She saved the lives of her two sisters. If she'd have tried to get out the front door, they would have all died."

The fire eventually got so hot that it melted the plastic blinds in Chelsea's room.

Emergency officials said the girls were at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, where they were being treated for smoke inhalation. Their conditions were not released Monday, but Hart said he expects the girls to make a full recovery.

Chelsea told emergency room doctors she did what she had been taught at school.

The fire caused an estimated $50,000 damage. On Monday afternoon, relatives were at the home covering broken windows. They declined to comment.

Hart said the a court had ordered the father out of the home because of allegations of domestic violence.

Sandfoss said Monday morning's fire started when an ashtray was emptied into a kitchen trash can about 10 p.m. Sunday. Sandfoss said the trash smoldered for about three hours before catching fire about 1 a.m.

There was no smoke detector in the brick ranch house, which is in the 5100 block of Dodsworth Lane just outside Cold Spring city limits.

Firefighters were able to contain the blaze - and rescue the family dog. It was given oxygen to aid its breathing.

Sandfoss said the family was lucky.

"She (Chelsea) said the smoke woke her up," Sandfoss said. "Why? We don't know. Most people are overcome with carbon monoxide in fires such as this and don't survive."

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E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com