3 kids in flaming duplex find a hero in grandfather

Joe Eleby Jr. managed to find his two oldest grandchildren in the smoke-filled duplex and carried them down the stairway to safety.

But his ordeal late Sunday night was not over, as he realized a third grandchild — a 2-year-old boy — was still in the burning upstairs unit.

“I picked up the two big ones, I got them out and I was like, where’s Eli?” Eleby recalled on Monday night after being released from a Houston hospital where he was treated for burns. “He was on the bed with me, but somehow …”

So Eleby, 50, in his bare feet went back up the stairs. He turned on the lights to the apartment, but the smoke was so thick he could not see. He heard Eli crying and broke a door to get some smoke out of the upstairs apartment so he could find the little boy.

He found his toddler grandson lying on the floor in the corner of the bedroom, the flames moving close.

“I had to walk on the fire with bare feet to get him out of the corner,” Eleby recalled. “He was smart enough to lay down. I heard him crying, I felt for him, I snatched him up and ran out.”

“He’s a brave soldier. He’s very smart, because he was low, and the fire had him engulfed on one side,” Eleby said of his youngest grandson.

Eleby downplayed the notion that he’s a hero after saving the three children: his granddaughter, 8, and grandsons, 3 and 2.

“I think any parent would’ve done the same thing in that situation,” he said. “I’m not a hero. But I did what I had to do, to try to make sure they were safe. I didn’t even think to run through the fire or not. It was pure adrenaline and instinct. That’s my grandbaby, and I’ve got to go.”

The grandfather, who takes care of his daughter’s three children while she works the night shift, is now staying with friends. On Monday, he was taking stock of what could have

been a family tragedy. The fire consumed everything they had.

The fire broke out on the 3800 block of Lila Street at Ralston just north of the Fifth Ward about 10:50 p.m. Sunday, according to the Houston Fire Department.

At around 11 p.m., neighbor Bobby Rigby woke up to hear shouts about a fire. He could hear the crackle of breaking glass and could smell the unmistakable scent of thick smoke. Shepherding his fiancé and his roommate out of the apartment, Rigby looked up to see flames bursting through the upper floor windows, coming from the unit above his.

Then he remembered the kids. Three lived upstairs.

Before Rigby could think any further, he turned to find his secondfloor neighbor, Joe, standing by the curb, holding the youngest two in his arms with his granddaughter by his side.

“He was all about the kids,” Rigby said. “Anybody who’s willing to take their life in their hands and rescue somebody, especially their grandbabies, that’s an A-plus for me. He’s definitely a hero.”

The children were treated for smoke inhalation, and Joe hopes they will be OK.

“They’re doing fine. One has diarrhea, and the other one’s been throwing up a lot,” he said late Monday. “They gave them some medication to try to stop the nausea, but they’ll be all right for a little bit.”

The neighbor, Rigby, said the Red Cross was helping residents whose belongings were destroyed.

In the upstairs where Eleby and his daughter lived, the walls were charred black, the roof was cratered and the furniture appeared like antiques out of a horror movie.

“It’s like I was telling my fiancé last night, all this stuff can be replaced,” Rigby said. “All of it. Documents, all of it. But life cannot be replaced.”

HFD spokesman Mario Gallegos said HFD is investigating the cause of the fire, though Rigby said firefighters on scene noted to him that an electric heater could be one possible cause.