Man who saved kids from fire hailed a hero

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

Firefighters say last week’s South Side blaze could have been fatal.

YOUNGSTOWN — Joel Imler is being called a hero after rushing four children under age 5 from a South Side home engulfed in flames last week.

Imler, 22, of McCollum Road, suffered severe burns on various parts of his body, and he is being treated at Akron Children’s Hospital’s burn center in Akron.

The house on Willis Avenue burned to the ground.

The children — Trodney Ollie, 2, Khalil Ollie, 1, Khinya Ollie, 1, and Krisean Ollie, 4, — were treated at St. Elizabeth Health Center. Khinya did suffer burns to her leg, but there is no word on her condition.

Capt. Alvin Ware of the Youngstown Fire Department said the department is investigating, but the fire at 569 Willis Ave. appears to have been caused by an electrical problem on the home’s first floor. He said the outcome of the fire could have been much worse.

“It is a good thing the kids were upstairs in the house. If the kids had not have been upstairs, this could have been a fatal fire because it got really hot on that first floor,” Ware said.

Dr. Sylvia Imler, Joel Imler’s mother, said the events leading to her son and the children’s being in the home together started earlier in the day Friday. She said the children were in town from Pennsylvania visiting their father, who is a close friend of her son’s.

Joel Imler spent the day at his friend’s Willis Avenue home and sat with the children while their father stepped out Friday evening.

He told his family and fire investigators the children were on the home’s second floor when he went to the basement area to get a diaper. When he returned to the first floor less than two minutes later, he said, the fire was already going and threatening to take over the lower level of the house.

Joel Imler ran up the stairs to the second level, grabbed all four kids simultaneously and ran for the door. Sylvia Imler said her son was forced to run through flames on the first floor to reach the door, leading to severe burns on his left arm and back.

“How he was able to scoop up four kids in his arms and shield them to get out was just amazing,” said Sylvia Imler. “Looking back on all this, we are just so grateful he made it out with those kids.”

Sylvia Imler, the wife of the Rev. Philip Imler, said the children’s grandmother, who uses a cane to assist in walking, usually watches them when their father has to step out.

She said the grandmother might not have been able to run up the steps and grab all four children before the fire gained momentum.

Family friends such as Cheryl Levy, who has known Joel Imler since he was a small child, say his actions during the fire are an example of his overall natural personality.

“He is an extraordinary young man,” she said. “It was truly a heroic deed to risk his life and save those children.”

jgoodwin@vindy.com