By TRAVIS REED
The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 11, 2007; 8:43 PM
SANFORD, Fla. -- Ryan Cooper was standing in his driveway when he saw the small plane crash into his neighborhood, setting two homes ablaze. Minutes later, the off-duty firefighter dashed into the houses in search of survivors.
The fast-moving blaze was being fed by hundreds of gallons of aviation fuel pouring from one floor to the next as Cooper groped through the smoke and flames without an air pack.
He rescued a 10-year-old boy, then went back for the father. He also tried to save neighbors in the burning house next door but couldn't find anyone before a police officer pulled him out for his own safety.
In one of the homes, "the conditions on the outside had deteriorated greatly to the point where I almost got disoriented to where I was," the 30-year-old Cooper said Wednesday from the hospital. Eventually, smoke inhalation stopped him.
Five people died in the crash _ a NASCAR pilot and the husband of a racing executive aboard the plane, as well as a woman and two children in the destroyed homes.
Sitting in a wheelchair with intravenous tubes in his arm, he preferred not to be called a hero.
"Everybody that goes to work, every 24 hours at every fire station across the country, it's their job to do it," Cooper said in a short interview.
Friends and neighbors of the people who were killed mourned their losses Wednesday, and federal aviation officials investigated the crash.
The airplane was heading from Daytona Beach to the central Florida town of Lakeland, about 100 miles away. Shortly into the flight, the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit and was cleared for an emergency landing.
On Wednesday, National Transportation Safety Board crews recovered all the plane's wreckage, but there was no indication what caused the crash.
"Cursory examination reveals no obvious mechanical abnormalities or deficiencies," said Robert Sumwalt, the agency's vice chairman.
Killed were both men on the twin-engine Cessna 310: 54-year-old Dr. Bruce Kennedy, a Daytona Beach plastic surgeon and husband of a prominent NASCAR official, and NASCAR Aviation pilot Michael Klemm, 56.
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.