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Man hailed hero after saving 4 neighbors from burning house

EAST AURORA, N.Y. (WIVB)-  Four people including three children were rescued from a mobile home that caught on fire Friday.

Robert Stauber lives next door to the home. He said when he smelled burning rubber he began checking out the car, thinking it was something there; but then he saw smoke coming out of his neighbor’s home.

He knocked on the door and started yelling the woman’s name. Stauber says within seconds the door began to bulge and smoke, billowed out.

“I opened the door and almost went to my knees because the smoke was so overwhelming,” said Stauber. “It was so dark and so black and I couldn’t see.”

He says he crawled around, locating the 28-year-old woman on the couch and pulled her to safety. He then called 911.

“I came out, looking at the seriousness of this; the flames were up on the ceiling and coming into the next room and I heard a child say help me,” said Stauber.

He made several more trips into the house, saving three children, ages five, four and a one-month-old, all before the first responders arrived.

“He saved three children and their mother,” said Greg Egloff, the East Aurora Fire Department Chief. “I would call him a hero. Not everyone can do that. It takes a special person to do that.”

Stabuer says fear lead him into the building time and time again, saving the young children and their mom.

“I’m no hero I’m no savior. I’m none of that. I went on fear alone.”

The children were treated at South Buffalo Mercy Hospital for smoke inhalation, then released and are in the care of a family member. The mother remains at Erie County Medical Center for treatment.

There is an active criminal investigation into the cause and origin of the fire. Police say they are looking into the mother’s involvement.