Off-Duty Rescuer Pulls Victims from FL Plane Crash Site
SANFORD, Fla. --
An off-duty firefighter who lives in the Central Florida neighborhood where a Cessna plane crashed into two homes and exploded jumped into action, rushing into the burning structures without fire protection to pull victims to safety.
He went straight into the first burning house and pulled out a father and son, a fire official told WKMG-TV in Orlando.
Lake Mary firefighter Ryan Cooper, 30, who lives next door to one of two homes hit by a plane at the Preserve at Lake Monroe subdivision in Sanford, was coming home from his duty and witnessed the plane crash.
The fire official said Cooper pulled the pair out of the flames and then went back into the second house but did not find anyone inside.
Cooper, who is also a paramedic, then worked with firefighters to stabilize the burn victims and then collapsed.
"What can I say, he is a hero," Fire Chief Craig Haun said. "At this point he is more concerned with the other actions, the could haves. What if he could have done a little more or something like that. Everybody knows what he did and the heroic actions that he took."
Cooper was transported to Central Florida suffering from smoke inhalation and other injuries.
Cooper's injuries were not life-threatening, officials said.
Plane Hits 2 Homes
Officials said the twin-engine plane was on a flight from Daytona to Lakeland at about 8:30 a.m. when it crashed into the homes at the Preserve at Lake Monroe subdivision in Sanford.
"(The pilot) was coming in at a bank like he was trying to make a turn and he went straight down into the houses," a witness said at the scene.
Victims Identified
During an afternoon news conference, officials released the names of the people killed and injured in the crash.
The victims from a home located on 356 Willow Bay Ridge Street are:
Janice Joseph, 24, deceased. Joseph Woodard, 6-months-old, deceased. Joseph Louis Woodard, 31, not injured.
The victims from 354 Willow Bay Ridge Street are:
Gabriela Dechat, 4, deceased. Milagros Dechat, 33, critically injured. Peter Dechat, 34, critically injured. Unnamed 10-year-old transported to the Cincinnati Burn Center.
The victims in the aircraft were identified as:
Dr. Bruce Kennedy, 54, deceased. Michael Klemm, 54, deceased.
The neighborhood where the plane crashed was evacuated because of explosions but residents were being let back into their homes Tuesday night.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this developing story.
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