Louisville Mother Dies After Saving Kids From Fire. Talk About The Ultimate Sacrifice.

Mother dies after saving children from townhouse fire
By Chris Quay

The suffocating smoke was already choking the air from the downtown Louisville townhouse Thursday morning as Tomarra Finley helped her two young nieces escape their burning home.

But Finley, 31, rushed back in to save her three children still on the second floor. She helped her 9-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter out the window, but her 3-year-old twin son was too scared to jump, despite the urging from others who were outside trying to help.

“His face … he just looked scared,” said Larry Evans, who helped get the kids down from the window.

With the smoke growing thicker, Finley lifted her young son out the window to safety, then collapsed.

Firefighters eventually pulled her from the building, in the 600 block of S. 11th St. She was then taken to University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead about 7:23 a.m. from smoke inhalation, said Jim Wesley, Jefferson County deputy coroner.

“She always put her kids first,” said a shaken Byron Hoard, Finley’s former boyfriend and the father of four children with her, including the twins.

“She’s a hero. All I can do now is show the kids videos of her.”

Officials say they aren’t sure what caused the fire, which Louisville Fire Chief Greg Frederick said broke out just after 6:30 a.m. in the downstairs area of the townhouse.

All five the children who were in the townhouse during the fire were transported to the hospital as a precautionary measure, but their injuries appeared minor, Frederick said. ...