Fla. Firefighter Searched Burning Homes

Firefighters work on a blaze that gutted two homes in Sanford, Fla., after a twin-engine plane crashed and struck the houses, killing five people, Tuesday, July 10, 2007. Dr. Bruce Kennedy, a Daytona Beach plastic surgeon and husband of International Speedway Corporation President Lesa France Kennedy, was among the people killed. (AP Photo/Daytona Beach News-Journal, Nigel Cook) (Nigel Cook - AP)

In one house, Milagros Dechat, 33, and Peter Dechat, 36, were badly burned, as was Milagros Dechat's 10-year-old son, Daniel Happy.

Cooper remembered carrying Daniel out of the house, then having to restrain the boy's father from searching for his missing 4-year-old daughter, Gabriela, who was killed.

Next door, 24-year-old law student Janise Joseph-Woodard and her 6-month-old son were killed.

Cooper said he swept through the Woodards' home after saving the boy, but found no one. Neighbors insisted people were inside, so he re-entered as the blaze raged.

Mourners left flowers on driveways at the remnants of the homes, and a vigil was planned Wednesday night.

Leighanne Morrison, a 44-year-old claims adjuster and neighbor of the Dechats, said Peter Dechat owns a window blind sales and installation company. Daniel Happy is a friend of her son's.

"They were always outside playing _ they had a basketball court outside," she said. "All the kids down here played together and rode their bikes up and down."

It was not immediately clear who piloted the plane. Despite Klemm's aviation experience, a NASCAR statement said Kennedy, husband of International Speedway Corp. President Lesa France Kennedy, was the pilot.

Friends remembered Kennedy as a quiet, thoughtful and compassionate person.

"Bruce was a very kind person. He'd do nice things for you without even asking," said Carl "Rick" Lentz, a Daytona Beach plastic surgeon who introduced Kennedy to his wife, Lesa France. "He had a demeanor that was very, very patient and very welcoming. You miss people like that."

Ann Toney, a 75-year-old neighbor of Klemm's, recalled him visiting her home to make sure she had a gassed-up generator during a hurricane.

"He came over in the wind and rain and put gas in it and started it for me and came back the next day to make sure I had plenty of gas," she said.

Janise Joseph-Woodard was supposed to be in law school at Florida A&M on Tuesday night. Professors there consoled students, while friends comforted her husband.

"A lot of prayers have been going out. He's holding up. He has hope," said Kathleen Lord, a family friend.

Leroy Richards, a nephew of Joseph-Woodard, described Joseph-Woodard as quiet but always ready with encouraging words.

"She would always have something positive to say," Richards said. "She was everything good in a person."

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Associated Press writers Sarah Larimer, Adrian Sainz and Rasha Madkour in Miami contributed to this report.