By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NORTH COLLEGE HILL - After intense heat, flames and smoke drove them back, firefighters finally reached 3-year-old Kevon Farley, trapped alone on the second floor of his apartment building.

Probably less than 10 minutes had passed before firefighters found the boy, wrapped in blankets, in a corner of a bedroom Friday morning. But they agonized because they were unable to reach him sooner.

They took him outside and handed him to paramedics. Then they made a final effort for him: They joined hands and bowed their heads in prayer.

"We prayed for Kevon, and I tried to tell them they did the best they could, that God loves them, and that child is in His hands now," said the Rev. Mike Paraniuk, the department's chaplain.

Friday night, Kevon remained in critical condition at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Fire Chief Michael A. Lotz said this was the first time in 32 years that this community's firefighters had to pull a child from a blaze. Lotz remembers the 1972 fire in which a child died - a memory too painful to discuss.

Worrying whether Kevon would survive, Lotz and other firefighters are second-guessing themselves. They did not use a new thermal-imaging camera in their haste to rescue the boy. "Would it have helped? I don't know," Lotz said.

The fire's ferocity blocked everyone who tried to reach Kevon, Lotz said.

A child whom authorities won't identify set the fire while playing with a lighter in a laundry room of Kevon's apartment, damaging four apartments, Lotz said. No damage estimate was available.

When the blaze was reported just before 10 a.m., Kevon's mother and two siblings were downstairs, Lotz said.

Despite their protective gear, heat and smoke forced firefighters to abandon a first rescue attempt. When neighboring departments and more manpower arrived, firefighters found Kevon.

"The frustration, the anguish that they had was tremendous because they couldn't make entry," said Police Chief Paul Toth. "You could see tears in the guys' eyes because they couldn't get in."

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com