Firefighters talk about girls' rescue

BILOXI, Miss. (WALA) - Two little girls rescued from a burning Biloxi home are still recovering in the hospital.

Meanwhile, their mother has been charged with two counts of neglect for leaving them home alone.

The blaze broke out on Desoto Street shortly after noon Tuesday.

The firefighters said the girls were living on borrowed time when they were found.

"We've pulled people from fires before; sometimes dead, sometimes alive. We always know call going to come in involving children, and we fear child fatalities. The feeling of pulling them out alive was an exhilarating feeling. (We’ve been) walking on clouds all night," said Captain Steve Dunaway.

Dunaway and his men said the moment they learned two little girls were still inside the burning house, everything changed.

The firefighters frantically searched the smoke-filled room.

"Everybody was madly searching, methodically though, with greater intensity once we realized there were people inside, particularly children," Dunaway said.

Andy Cosper was one of the first ones in. He said nothing was going to stop him from getting to Patricia and Ashley Salas.

"The first little girl I put my hand on I thought it was a doll, she was so small and lifeless, like a tee shirt. It wasn't until I found the second little girl I realized she was a victim, too,"  Cosper said.

The girls were found on the floor. All of the men agree a few more seconds and the 4 -year-old and 2-year-old would not have survived.

"Mere seconds, I can't believe they made it really, as bad as it was in there," Chris Denton said.

Dunaway said the girls were not breathing when they were pulled from the inferno. He said he performed CPR on one of them. 

"At the point when they (the ambulance) left with them, we didn't even know if there were going to live or die. After they left we went back to fighting the fire. It was a real somber scene," Dunaway said.

Chief David Roberts has been fighting fires for nearly 40 years and said cases like this are rare. Roberts got a bit teary-eyed talking about his men.

"Well, I stay on them a lot. And when it works out like this, it is a real good factor," Roberts said.

The firefighters said it makes for a call they will remember for years, rather than one they'd like to forget.

The mother of the two girls, Brenda Salas, has been charged with two counts of child neglect for leaving the girls home alone when the blaze broke out.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

There are more than 170 firefighters with the Biloxi Fire Department. All of them are certified in CPR.

The three men credited with saving the little girls said it was the whole department, not just them.

Depending on arrival time, firefighters have different jobs. The man said they were able to go in and save the little girls because the other crews pushed back the fire.