"That's not heroic, that's called being a parent;" father recalls saving kids from Thursday house fire
DETROIT - It was around 9 a.m. that Treyvaughn Robinson smelled smoke in his house. When he found it, three of his kids were unconscious from a fire that had started.
"I just opened up the kid's door and I seen the smoke and the fire," he said. "There were three unconscious - my son and two daughters."
That's when fight or flight kicked in.
"My friend's daughter, she was in the first room at the door, so I grabbed her first and then I went back in and found my two daughters but could not find my son, so I went back in there and grabbed my son," details Robinson.
Children likely involved in Pembroke house fire
All kids are safe following a house fire on Pembroke. Their father detailed the rescue efforts that unfolded after he went into the room where something was burning. He first grabbed a family friend's daughter before collecting the rest of his kids - three of them unconscious at the time.
In total, four of Robinson's kids were rescued - a 4-year-old, a 3-year-old, a two-year-old and a 4-month-old. There was also a 2-year-old child of a family friend. Robinson said the fire started shortly after his older kids were taken to school by their mother.
As to what started the fire? While the Detroit Fire Department believes the source of the blaze was a space heater, they have reason to suspect the children were connected.
"We believe that the children were involved in the starting of the fire," said Deputy Fire Commissioner Dave Fornell. "We don't exactly know how at this particular point. There was a space heater that had some melted plastic in it."
Fornell said a firefighter had also suffered an injury during the blaze.
"There was a firefighter that suffered an injury - a muscle injury trying to gain entry into the building. And when they got here, they didn't know if there were any other children in there," he said.
During the investigation afterward, Robinson had tried to gain entry to the home before being detained by police. The initial report from the investigation, it was written that nobody was home with the kids at the time of the fire. However, a follow-up to that investigation shows that parents were in fact in the house at the time.
Robinson isn't sure why that original sentiment was expressed.
"I don't know why anybody said that nobody was home. Clearly, when the fire department and the EMS showed up, we was holding our children," said Robinson.
While the damage of the house is extensive, the only feeling being felt right now is one of relief. Some have even called Robinson a hero for his actions - a label he rejects.
"No that's not heroic that's called 'being a parent.' That's what I was supposed to do. I'd die for anyone of my kids," he said. "I'm really thankful, I thought I lost everything."