Passer-by helps save four children, disappears

ST. LOUIS -- A man passing through a city neighborhood spotted a fire, helped a desperate father save his four children, then walked away without accepting the accolades.

Four times Monday evening, Keith Colenburg helped his children out a third-floor window of their burning house and onto the limbs of a tree. And each time, the children dropped more than 20 feet into the arms of the mysterious passer-by, a blond man in a lumberjack shirt who caught each as if fielding punts in a life-and-death football game.

"He's a hero," said bystander Aisia Thomas, 27.

Colenburg climbed out last, making the same jump. The children and Colenburg were not seriously hurt.

The cause of the blaze, discovered shortly after 4 p.m., was undetermined, but fire investigators said it was accidental.