Chicago Boy Meets Firefighters Who Saved His Life

Six-year-old Dereonte Ashford of Englewood barely remembers the fire last March that left him hospitalized for months and burned over 80 percent of his body.

He has no recollection, either, of being carried out of a smoke and flames-filled basement to safety by Chicago firefighter Tom O’Connell of Local 2’s Truck 41.

But the kindergartner knows it happened, and on Monday – the first time since the March 23, 2011, fire that he got to meet O’Connell – Dereonte had something to say.

“Thank you . . . for saving my life,” he told the firefighter as O’Connell and a whole lot of people converged on his classroom at Goodlow School, 2040 W. 62nd.

Several surgeries later, Dereonte remains a bubbly child despite his ordeal, his mother and teacher say.

His mother, Sabina Ashford, said Dereonte had gone into the basement of his home to play, when not long after, family members on the first floor smelled smoke.

Dereonte’s grandfather tried to go down. Fire was already raging at the stairs.

“We were calling and calling Dereonte. I was outside, hysterical, when firefighters got there,” his mother said. “One broke the glass block window with an ax. Others went in. Then I saw Tom carrying my baby out, and he was on fire.

“I screamed, ‘He’s dead! He’s dead!’ But a few minutes later, they said, ‘We got a pulse!’ If it wasn’t for Tom, Dereonte might not be here today,” the mother said.

But the 32-year Chicago Fire Department veteran spread the love.

“It’s all teamwork. On this job,” O’Connell said, “I’m surrounded by heroes.”