1 child killed, 3 children injured in Fort Worth house fire; Good Samaritan helps rescue victims, officials say

An overnight house fire in Fort Worth has left one child dead and three children injured, officials confirmed early Thursday morning.

According to the Fort Worth Fire Department, a little after 3 a.m., crews were called to the fire at a home in the 4200 block of McCart Avenue. When they arrived, heavy fire was coming from the front and side of the home, and medical helicopters were called in to transport the victims.

Charred rubble is all that remains of the home a family of seven used to call home. Robin Allen lives two doors down.

"I'm really speechless," Allen said. "I'm heartbroken. I can only imagine what the mom is going through."

Allen said it sounded like an explosion jolted her out of her sleep.

"I heard like a boom sound," Allen said.

That sound came from the home along McCart Avenue.

"I see lights flashing, and I see smoke. It smelled like something was burning," Allen said.

Allen said the fire was so intense that she couldn't see past her next-door neighbor's truck.

"I noticed there was a guy standing here. He was bloody drenched with blood," Allen said.

Good Samaritan helps pull victims from home 

At least two of the children were pulled from the home by a bystander, later identified as Leon Segura, officials said. 

Segura was transported from the scene with deep cuts to his hands and arms and burns to his back. He was later released, officials said. 

A witness, Rosalina Garcia, said she was with Segura when he rescued the children. 

"I would definitely consider him a hero," she told CBS News Texas. 

Ahead of a news conference, Segura returned to the scene and spoke with reporters, describing how he jumped into action. 

He said he was driving through the area when he saw the fire. 

"I had the windows down and heard some screaming, so I really quick just jumped out the truck," Segura said. "I kicked down the front door, and it was really hot, and I couldn't get in at all. The flames were really super hot."

He said he saw one of the children outside the home on the phone in the front yard, who told him her siblings were still inside. 

Segura said that's when he ran to the back of the home, punched through the glass screen door, turned the hot knob and went inside with his bandana wrapped around his face. 

"It was really bad in there," he said. 

Segura said he saw two children passed out on the floor and grabbed one and took them outside, and then went back to grab the other. 

"I knew I had to do that," Segura said of rescuing the two children. 

He said he's a father of 18-year-old and 17-year-old daughters. "What if it was one of my kids?" Segura said. "I would want to have somebody act immediately." 

FWFD said seven people lived inside the home – two adults and five children. One victim, only identified as a school-age child, died at the scene, and two children were taken to the hospital by helicopter, while another child was transported by ambulance. The two adults and one of the children were not seriously injured. 

Cause of fire under investigation 

"Anytime you've got any type of fatality involved, it's just hard for our folks… They try and wonder what they could've done better, what they could've done differently," Fort Worth Fire spokesperson Craig Trojacek said. "Anytime you hear of a kid, it takes it to a whole other level. We're dads, we're moms – it hits us tough."

Fire investigators have not released the cause of the fire as they remain on scene.