Quincy fire victim meets with rescuers

When she got to firefighter Danny Sullivan, she paused.

Sullivan wrapped his arms around her, then presented her with a bouquet of flowers.

The rare encounter between a victim and her rescuers touched an emotional nerve for firefighters in Quincy.

"This doesn't happen to see a victim come back in an event of this magnitude," said Deputy Fire Chief Gary Smyth, who also responded to the late March blaze. "I think it was comforting to her to see the efforts of these firefighters [and what they] did to save her that night. I wish we were able to save the rest of her family."

With her brother and mother at her side, Knight, 27, was too distraught to speak yesterday.

Her mother, Tina Griffin, gave voice to her daughter's actions.

"Terri wanted to come down and thank the Fire Department for all that they did to save her and trying to save her family," said Griffin.

"She knew it was a hard job, and she wanted to say thank you and so did we."

Knight's life forever changed at 3 a.m. March 25 when a fire broke out inside the Quincy basement apartment she shared with her husband, Oudah Frawi, and their children, 1-month-old Ali and 1-year-old Hassan.

A sofa in the apartment erupted in flames, releasing thick, toxic smoke. The building's residents who lived in the upper floor of the six-unit house frantically rushed outside.

But Knight, Frawi, and the boys were still inside when firefighters arrived.

Firefighters broke down the apartment door, fought their way through the smoke and flames, and carried out the victims.

Frawi and the boys had died. But Sullivan detected breath in Knight, Smyth said.

She was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital, suffering severe burns. Her chances for survival were uncertain.

But she did survive and later retained a lawyer, William T. Kennedy of Quincy, who recently filed a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against the apartment building's owners.

Fire inspectors said there were no smoke detectors in Knight and Frawi's apartment, though the house did have smoke alarms in the hallways as required by state law.

Kennedy said the basement apartment and one in the attic had been illegally constructed, adding that the house had been illegally wired with four utility meters instead of the six necessary for the building's six apartments.

"This was really a firetrap," he told the Globe last month.

After the blaze, Griffin flew to Boston from her home in Enid, Okla., to be with her daughter.

She said yesterday that Knight spent three weeks in intensive care, and her burns are healing. Griffin said Knight plans to head to Oklahoma tomorrow, where she will continue to undergo burn therapy.

"It's going to take a long time to heal," she said.

But before she leaves, she wanted to thank the men who saved her. Her lawyer arranged yesterday's meeting.

Yesterday, Knight also brought flowers for the firefighters.

The firefighters - about 30 them - told her they were sorry for her loss and told her they, too, were thankful she is alive and well.

"Seeing Mrs. Knight today, touches all the emotions of the Fire Department," Smyth said. "It's good to see that she is rehabilitating. But we also know that she has a long road ahead of her. "

Before she begins her trip out west, she also plans to visit her Islamic friends, and then to stop by Wollaston Beach to look at the waves.

Griffin said Knight plans to return to Massachusetts in a few years, because she likes the ocean.

"We don't have any oceans in Oklahoma," Griffin said.

Meghan Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com.