LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Keisha Malcum feared the worst when she arrived home Saturday and sections of her apartment complex were on fire. People ran to safety as the building began to collapse, but her husband was nowhere in sight amidst the rubble. Finally she saw him, the last person to exit the inferno as he helped other tenants get out.
Senior Airman Akino Malcum, 1st Logistics Readiness Squadron traffic management journeyman, returned home from a get together at about 11 p.m. to find his apartment in flames.
Driving home with his wife, who is eight months pregnant, he saw a ball of fire and smoke tumble from the courtyard area. The only sounds came from the crackling and collapsing of the burning apartments. Airman Malcum ran into the first burning building with three other people and started beating on doors to help their neighbors get out of the apartments.
The building was collapsing in places, but the stairwell he was on remained intact, he said.
Airman Malcum recalls dropping his cell phone while inside the blaze. The fire was so intense he was unable to retrieve it.
"If you have ever been cooking something in an oven, that's what it felt like," said Airman Malcum. "But with the oven set at 1,000."
As Airman Malcum cleared the first building of residents, gusting winds blew burning debris onto another section of the complex, causing it to catch fire. By the time he cleared the second building, a third had caught fire. When Airman Malcum cleared the last building, he could finally hear the sirens from the fire trucks.
"From the time I got there until the last building was cleared about 20 minutes had passed," said Airman Malcum. "I didn't pay attention to the danger until afterwards and noticed even the ground was on fire."
Risking his life to protect other was a natural decision, he said.
"I returned from Iraq a month ago from a joint tasking with the Army and I was still in the mode of helping people," Airman Malcum said. "I got to see what IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and enemy attacks can do. The Air Force instilled in us from basic training on up to protect people whenever possible."
Fire investigators believe a discarded cigarette likely caused the fire, which destroyed 36 apartments, according to the Daily Press.
"I don't consider myself a hero, said Airman Malcum. "Anyone willing and able could have done it."