As a woman screamed from the third-floor balcony of a burning Mattapan three-decker yesterday, a 34-year-old construction worker scaled a post to the second floor balcony and held out his hand to catch the baby she was holding.
In a second dramatic rescue, a Boston firefighter groped his way through black smoke, following the muffled cries of a 2-year-old, before pulling out the child's limp body and handing him to a fellow firefighter.
At least 16 people were injured yesterday, including a child who was in critical condition last night, in a three-alarm Blue Hill Avenue blaze that officials said was caused by an electrical short circuit in the first-floor apartment just before noon. Six children and three adults in the building, three passersby who stopped to help, and four emergency responders were injured, said Richard Serino, chief of Boston's Emergency Medical Services.
"There were some tense moments," Deputy Fire Chief Robert Dunderdale said. "It was a very fast-moving fire."
Area residents surrounded Al Pierre, the construction worker, as he stood across the street from the fire scene and described quickly climbing up the side of the house, standing on the second-floor balcony, and encouraging the screaming woman to drop the baby into his arms.
"I was driving by, and I saw smoke and a lady on the porch screaming," he said. "I had to get that baby."
One man in the crowd yelled out "He's a hero!" as the group applauded him.
Malahika Tucker, 38, who lives on Blue Hill Avenue across the street from the fire, said Pierre caught the baby with one outstretched hand, before tossing the child to another man waiting on the ground.
Pierre said he then helped two women climb over the third-floor balcony railing and down to the ground. "Now that I think about it, it's kind of heavy," he said of his actions, which left him with cuts and scrapes to his arms.
As firefighters arrived, the blaze continued its climb from the first floor to the third floor, and it became clear that other people remained inside.
John Morris - a 54-year-old worker at The Portland Group, a plumbing, heating, and air conditioning wholesaler with an office near the apartment building - said he saw a woman jump from a balcony in the back of the building and slide down a post to the ground.
Boston firefighters Renard Miller, Joe Walsh, and Lieutenant William Kenneally then worked to rescue the boy and a girl, believed to be about 5, from the third floor.
"When I got there, a gentleman said there were two kids on the third floor," Miller said. "I opened up a couple of doors, and I heard a faint cry."
With dense, black smoke surrounding him, Miller said he rubbed his hand along the bed's surface, until he felt a child.
"The baby seemed lifeless," he said. "The baby was just limp in my arms."
He said he took off his mask and put it over the boy's face. Miller said he then handed the toddler to Kenneally, who carried him down along a steep ladder.
"The firefighters did a great job," said Morris, who watched the rescue.
Walsh pulled out the girl, who firefighters said was standing near a window.
"We all helped out," Walsh said. "It seemed like we were up there for a long time."
At least four emergency responders, a police officer and three firefighters, were injured in the blaze, Serino said.
Police Sergeant John Conroy was in the area as a detail supervisor when the fire broke out and was among the first emergency responders on the scene, police said. He was taken to a hospital suffering from smoke inhalation, after rushing into the building several times in an attempt to help people inside, said Officer James Kenneally, a Boston police spokesman.
Firefighter Brian Dasey, who was among 75 firefighters who responded to the fire, suffered burns to his neck and was taken from the scene to Boston Medical Center, Dunderdale said.
Two other firefighters did not realize they were injured until they returned to the firehouse, MacDonald said. One had burns to his neck, and the other complained of chest pain.
Serino said the other people injured suffered from smoke inhalation and burns, as well as bumps and bruises among those who jumped from the building. They were taken to Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Children's Hospital Boston, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
He said paramedics resuscitated one child at the scene who was not breathing, but could not confirm if that was the 2-year-old boy.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino credited police and firefighters with saving lives in the fire.
"He was very proud of his firefighters and police officers for the work they did, the selflessness they showed," said Dorothy Joyce, a spokeswoman for Menino. "He's very proud today that they were able to rescue those people, especially those children in that home. We're very fortunate today."
Joyce said the mayor planned to recognize the emergency responders at an event to be planned later this week.
The fire left the three-decker apartment building gutted and tattered with an estimated $500,000 in damage. A charred jack-o'-lantern sat on a table on the second-floor balcony. The roof was severely damaged as firefighters punched through to battle the blaze. A three-decker next door also had minor damage; it had "for rent" signs on its windows and appeared to be unoccupied.
Many of those injured, including the children, were not residents of the apartment building, MacDonald said. Officials determined that four people lived in the first-floor apartment, and five people lived in the second-floor apartment. It was not clear yesterday how many people lived on the third floor.
Spokeswoman Amelia Aubourg said the Red Cross was helping three families with food, clothing, and shelter.
John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.
