Heroic father killed in house fire after saving wife and five children

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A Georgia father died saving his family from a house fire and is now being heralded as a hero.

John Gamble, his wife, and their five children were at home in Clayton County when the blaze started up. Unfortunately, the living room, where the fire started, didn’t have a working fire alarm.

Neighbors Jacob Stewart and John Tumlin saw what happened: Gamble and his family had to break their windows to escape the fire, and Gamble simply started to push his family out of the window in order to save them.

“I opened my window, I saw that window right there in flames. By the time me and Stick got out here, the whole side of the house was on fire and fire coming out of the front door,” Steward told local station 11 Alive News at the scene, pointing out the shattered window in the process. “We see that woman out here screaming. I see a kid over talking about, help. We go over there, there’s like two of them out and then he’s shoving them out the window.”

“The little boy who was in the kitchen, he had a little cut, and that’s the one that said, ‘Hey, hey John, my daddy’s over there. You got to save him or he’s going to die!’” Tumlin added.

HE GAVE HIS LIFE TO SAVE THEIRS: a father of 5 is dead this morning after a house fire… but neighbors say he used his last breaths making sure all of his children escaped #11alive pic.twitter.com/xYc8KOPDEU

— Kaitlyn Ross 11Alive (@kaitlynross1) February 1, 2018

Neighbors describe the heroic efforts of a father trying to save his 5 kids in a house fire. Sadly, the father didn’t make it. What might have prevented him from getting out. That’s coming up at noon @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/RGgCdmcua4

— Tom Jones (@TomJonesWSBTV) February 1, 2018

‘He’s the real hero’

Ultimately, Gamble was able to get his family out. His wife, Tyesha Gamble, was treated for smoke inhalation at Grady Hospital, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the five children were all treated for cuts and bruises.

But they all survived.

Sadly, Gamble himself perished in the fire.

“He died saving his children. He’s the real hero,” Stewart said.

“A heroic man and very lucky children,” agreed Deputy Fire Chief Matt Jackson.

The fire spread quickly and took 20 firefighters to put out, according to Jackson. Now, the family is left to pick up the pieces without their father.

Our thoughts are with the family as they try to recover at this time.