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Man Dies In Avon Park Fire

GREAT-NEPHEW SAVED FRIEND, CHILDREN

Gary Pinnell/Highlands Today

Trent Lampkin Sr. talks with his mother in front of the house at 156 Hatcher Ave., Avon Park, where his great-uncle, Anthony Stephens Jr., died Friday night in a fire.

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: January 10, 2009

Updated: 01/10/2009 01:45 pm

AVON PARK - Ellen Oris called to her husband, Anais, when she saw the fire at Anthony Stephens's tiny white house, across Strong Avenue from her own.

He went outside and saw a neighbor, who heard Stephens's calls for help at 156 Hatcher Ave., beside the Elberta Crate & Box Co.

"I was asleep in the back room," said Stephens's great-nephew, Trent Lampkin Sr. Lampkin jumped out the window, and helped his son, Trent Lampkin Jr., 9 months, his girlfriend, Shaniqua Blake, 20, and her daughter, 2, escape the flames.

But he didn't save his great-uncle.

"It was too late," Lampkin said on Saturday morning. "He's dead."

Anais Oris said his neighbor called 911. The call came in at 10:34 p.m.

The neighbor told Oris that he started for the house, but heard popping sounds, and with each explosion, the flames got bigger, brighter and hotter.

"The fire was shooting all the way up in the air," said Oris, pointing to the sky over the house. "The old man, he was shouting for help. Help."

Oris's neighbor couldn't reach Alexander either. "He tried to go help, but the fire, it was too much. He couldn't get to him."

Lampkin said Stephens was too weak to walk, and was on oxygen. He was also a smoker, although no one knew why the fire started. The state fire marshal's office is still investigating.

Stephens, a retired mechanic, was originally from Albany, Ga., Lampkin said.

"He was a good man. He raised me. He loved football – the Raiders and Tampa."

The house, which Stephens owned, appeared to be a total loss, Lampkin said.

"He's a hero," said his mother, Betty Ann Lampkin, who drove up in another car. "He could have saved his uncle, but he saved the kids. He made the right decision."

Highlands Today senior reporter Gary Pinnell can be reached at 863-386-5828 or gpinnell@highlandstoday.com

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