Community rallies to help fire victims

‘‘The outpouring of people who want to help is incredible,” Anne Tatem, a neighbor who rode with the family in an ambulance that day, said on Monday afternoon.

Residents of Chevy Chase View and Rock Creek Hills developments filled six large donation boxes with size-appropriate clothes, toys and toothbrushes. Damage estimates to the home exceed $450,000.

The fire, which broke out around 1 p.m. Saturday in the family’s home in the 9800 block of Connecticut Avenue, started in a first-floor room.

The 12-year-old girl, who was watching her siblings — 13-month-old twins, a 3-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy — while her mother stepped out, called 911 to report a fire in the house, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services.

She then led her siblings into an upstairs room, called her mother and waited for rescuers. The children were unable to leave the house because of the first-floor fire and thick smoke, fire officials said.

‘‘I’ve been doing this for 32 years now,” said Kensington Deputy Fire Chief Mike Kelley, ‘‘and I’ve never seen such an intense and successful rescue like this one.”

Kelley said if the 12-year-old had delayed calling 911 even a few seconds, she and her siblings might not have survived. She and her siblings did everything right, and so did Kensington volunteer firefighters, he said.

The Kensington Volunteer Fire Department was the first to arrive at the scene as fire and smoke billowed out of the home.

Sixty firefighters and medics from nearby stations arrived at the scene soon after.

Kensington firefighter Stephen Cox and six other volunteer firefighters were among the first to arrive at the house, where the mother, who sped home after getting the call from her daughter, told them her children were upstairs.

Firefighters typically wait for backup before entering a house on fire, ‘‘but a situation with known victims, all bets are off,” Kelley said.

Firefighter Bert Oudshoorn was setting up the hose when he noticed an arm in a second-story window. Fire engine drivers do not typically wear the same fireproof gear, or perform the same rescue measures as the other firefighters on an engine.

Despite his lack of protection, he grabbed a ladder and went up to the window to rescue the children.

‘‘The window was open, and I ripped the blinds off the window and felt the arm to the left of the window, and there was the 7-year-old boy,” he said Tuesday.

Oudshoorn brought the boy down the ladder and went back up to find the 3-year-old girl on the floor near the window.

‘‘I could hear an infant in there crying, but at that point, there was so much smoke I couldn’t go in,” he said.

He directed other firefighters who were in the house to the twins, where Cox had already pulled them out of a closet.

Smoke inside the two-story home was so thick Cox couldn’t see his hand just inches from his mask.

‘‘I just heard a girl screaming, and I kept yelling ‘Keep screaming so I can find you,’” he said Monday afternoon recalling the rescue.

‘‘When I reached the one girl she was still conscious, but she was reported as being unconscious when she was taken out of the house,” Cox said. ‘‘Everyone just knew what needed to be done...and it was a successful outcome. It was absolutely a team effort.”

Firefighters were able to find the room and rescue the kids within minutes.

‘‘We will risk our lives to save the victims,” Kelley said. ‘‘This was the ultimate one we’re trained for.”

The family’s neighbor, Tatem, recalled watching the smoke billow from the home Saturday afternoon.

‘‘We first heard the sirens, but on Connecticut [Avenue] we always hear sirens,” she said.

Eventually, though, Tatem and other neighbors followed to the home.

Susan Seybolt said she and her family also responded to the sirens, and later hosted Sunday’s collection for the family.

She and Tatem each made three phone calls to neighbors, who were asked to make three more calls to find people willing to donate items.

‘‘By the end of the day [Sunday] we had a nice-sized box for each of the kids and the mother,” she said.

Schools where the children attend plan to open collection bins for the family as well, and are asking for new, unwrapped toys or gift certificates to stores like Target, Home Depot and Giant supermarket.

‘‘We wanted to get the stuff that would really work for them,” Seybolt said. ‘‘It’s so nice to see people come together.”

Daniel Vogelman, principal at Westland Middle School in Bethesda, where the oldest daughter attends school, said the community has historically rallied around those in need.

Along with the middle school, North Chevy Chase Elementary School and the Kensington Baptist Church will collect donations for the family.

Vogelman said half the proceeds from a talent show already scheduled for Friday will go to the family, in addition to a gift card and clothing collection.

‘‘This is the first day and we have already close to $700 in gift cards that we’re going to take over to the family today,” he said Tuesday morning.

‘‘This community is amazing when it comes to when one of us is in need,” he said. ‘‘The community does a great job of rallying around these families.”

Westland students also plan to make cards for the family. ‘‘We understand the family is going to need a lot, and we want to offer emotional support as well,” he said.

To help

Collection sites for the family are set up throughout the area. Volunteers are asking for household items and gift cards to home improvement stores and supermarkets.

Collection sites

North Chevy Chase Elementary School

3700 Jones Bridge Rd., Chevy Chase

301-657-4950

Collection open during school hours

Westland Middle School

5511 Massachusetts Ave., Bethesda

301-320-6515

Collection open during school hours

Kensington Baptist Church

10100 Connecticut Ave., Kensington

301-942-4400

Collection open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.