Amid choking smoke, rescuer reaches kids

A Marine reservist crawled through a dark, smoke-filled Spokane Valley townhouse searching for signs of life from two children trapped by a fire.

With only a cell phone for light, Jon Higginson found the 1-year-old girl in her crib. He handed her to a teenager on the balcony, who lowered the youngster to a neighbor waiting below, and Higginson continued his search as heat and smoke choked the second-floor rental unit.

Following what sounded like loud breathing, he found the 3-year-old boy scrunched against a closed bedroom door.

Now the 29-year-old is being hailed as a hero. Higginson said he did what any good human being would do.

“What I did I don’t think is any different than what should be expected,” Higginson said Wednesday.

Trinity and Tristan Burris were in satisfactory condition Wednesday at Sacred Heart Medical Center, where they were being treated for smoke inhalation. Authorities credit the careful actions of Higginson and other neighbors with preventing a tragedy.

The blaze started about 9:50 p.m. Tuesday in the 1-year-old’s room at the home at 12404 E. Eighth Ave. in Spokane Valley, officials said. Officials were investigating the cause Wednesday but called the blaze suspicious.

The children’s mother was in the shower when the fire started. She told officials she saw smoke coming over the top of the curtain and jumped out of the shower. She tried to open the door to her daughter’s room, but the knob was too hot. The mother and her boyfriend ran outside and started calling for help.

Higginson had just walked his girlfriend home when he saw the smoke and heard the mother scream as she stood outside, wrapped in a towel and soaking wet.

As he ran to help, he was joined by 17-year-old Alex Suchanek and his stepfather. The trio tried to run up the stairs, but the heat and smoke knocked them back.

“I didn’t think about going in there, or my safety,” said Higginson, who returned from his second tour in Iraq about two months ago. “I just knew what I had to do.”

Higginson told the others they’d need to crawl up to the second-floor balcony to get in. Suchanek’s stepfather gave them a boost.

“I told Alex to rip the (sliding glass) door off, kick it in or do whatever he had to,” Higginson said. “The smoke knocked him back.”

Using a water-soaked shirt to cover his face, Higginson was able to crawl under the smoke. As he found the children, he gave them to Suchanek on the balcony, who passed them down to his stepfather.

The 3-year-old reportedly had to be resuscitated by a paramedic.

Once the children were out, “I did a Superman off the rail,” Higginson – a father of three – said. “I couldn’t have done it without Alex’s help. I’m glad it turned out the way it did. It could have been a lot worse.”

After getting himself to safety, Higginson drove the children’s mother to the hospital. There, he asked her if he could see the children to make sure they were all right, and she obliged.

Spokane Valley firefighters were impressed.

“His actions were exemplary,” said fire investigator Clifton Mehaffey. Coincidentally, a department fire inspector, Rick Freier, served in the Marines with Higginson. He said: “It absolutely didn’t surprise me when I found out it was him who did that.”