Rookie firefighter saves 4-year-old boy from apartment fire, his two brothers also pulled from the blaze by FDNY firefighters

Justin Tallett, 27, burst into the rear bedroom of a Brooklyn flat around 11 a.m., found 4-year-old Trevele Bolton motionless under a blanket and then carried him to safety, officials said. Trevele’s two brothers — ages 5 and 8 — were also pulled from the blaze after the grandfather who had been watching them inexplicably bolted from the East New York apartment, leaving the children behind.

BY LAURA DIMON , TINA MOORE , RICH SCHAPIRO

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Tuesday, July 29, 2014, 12:14 PM

Updated: Friday, August 1, 2014, 4:01 AM

It was a true baptism by fire.

A rookie firefighter with just two months on the job was hailed a hero Tuesday after he fought through smoke and flames to rescue an unconscious boy trapped in a burning apartment.

Justin Tallett, 27, burst into the rear bedroom of a Brooklyn flat around 11 a.m., found the 4-year-old boy motionless under a blanket and then carried him to safety, officials said.

Tallett, a former Army medic who completed a stint in Afghanistan in 2012, brushed off praise, saying he simply relied on his training and instincts.

“I just knew I had to get him out of the apartment,” Tallett said, his face still stained with soot. “That was really the only thing I was thinking.”

The critically injured boy, identified as Trevele Belton, was resuscitated on his way to the hospital and is expected to survive.

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“He did a wonderful job,” Lt. Chris Bedard, of Ladder 107, said of Tallett. “It’s just good training that we have in the academy for these gentlemen.”

Trevele’s two brothers — ages 5 and 8 — were also pulled from the blaze after the grandfather who had been watching them inexplicably bolted from the East New York apartment, leaving the children behind.

Gripping photos shot by the Daily News captured the dramatic rescue frame-by-frame.

The call came over at 11:13 a.m.

Two minutes later, firefighters arrived on the scene and saw smoke pouring out of the fourth-floor Pink Houses apartment on Loring Ave. Through the plumes, the smoke-eaters spotted the two older brothers in a window. They were trapped.

Trevele Belton, 4, was unconscious when he was plucked from a bedroom by a probationary firefighter who had fought in the Afghan War.

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FAMILY PHOTO

Trevele Belton, 4, was unconscious when he was plucked from a bedroom by a probationary firefighter who had fought in the Afghan War.

“They had their face through the (child) grates,” said Firefighter Frank Blackstone. “They were crying. They weren’t screaming.”

Blackstone was initially planning on setting up a portable ladder. But once they spotted the kids, the firefighters realized they didn’t have time.

So Blackstone went up in a bucket ladder that broke through a handful of branches as it extended skyward.

“It was amazing how fast those firefighters got up there,” said one witness who declined to give her name. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Once the bucket reached the fourth floor, Blackstone broke through the windows with pick axes and scooped up the two boys — Tremaine, 5, and Darian, 8.

Firefighter Justin Tallett, a probationary firefigher assigned to Brooklyn's Ladder 107 who fought in Afghanistan, rescued the 4-year-old boy.

One of them said there were other family members in the apartment.

“We were able to pull them out and bring them down to the street,” Blackstone said.

But their youngest brother remained inside.

Neighbors rushing out of the burning building were shocked to see the boys’ grandfather — Willy Wilcox, 66 — standing near the lobby. He was wearing only boxer shorts and a black T-shirt.

Wilcox scurried from the apartment while all three kids were still inside, neighbors and law enforcement sources said. He left the front door open.

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TODD MAISEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Firefighters used a bucket ladder to reach the burning fourth-floor apartment, where the children were trapped.

“People wanted to hurt him around here,” said neighbor Omar White, 33. “They were like, ‘How could you leave those kids in the house?’ ”

Once they made it into the apartment after crawling through the hallway, Tallett and a crew of his fellow Bravest doused the flames with their water cans and fanned out.

Tallett, after rushing into the rear bedroom, headed for the bed.

“The blankets were there,” he said. “I felt something under the blankets and I grabbed him and took him out.”

“I handed him to another unit” a floor below “and then I went back in,” Tallett added.

A firefighter rushed the unconscious boy, wearing only his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles underwear, to a waiting ambulance.

“He was out of it,” said White, who described seeing the boys’ arms bouncing up and down lifelessly.

“Everybody just started crying.”

All three boys and the grandfather were taken to Brookdale University Hospital. Trevele was later transferred to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell.

At Brookdale, the boys’ aunt said Tremaine told her the blaze broke out after Trevele lit something on the stove.

Willy Wilcox, 66, the grandfather of the three children rescued was treated for unspecified injuries.

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TODD MAISEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Willy Wilcox, 66, the grandfather of the three children rescued was treated for unspecified injuries.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. A police source said Trevele was burned, suggesting that he might be responsible.

The aunt, Amanda Ridley, 51, said she had “no idea” why Wilcox deserted the boys.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was drunk and sleeping because I do know him to drink,” Ridley said.

“I don’t think he’s capable of taking care of kids,” she added.

Tallett, for his part, stuck to the hero script.

“I just saw the kid and I knew I had to get him out,” said Tallett, also assigned to Ladder 107 in Brooklyn. “That’s what our training taught us to do.”

“Today was a great day,” he added. “As long as the kids are OK, it would make it even better.”

With Kerry Burke

tmoore@nydailynews.com

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