Richard Slater and Lamonta Stroud are considered heroes in Rockdale County for saving a mother and one of her five children from a terrible house fire that left her other four children dead. But neither of the young men considers himself a hero and neither seems very comfortable with the platitudes that were bestowed upon them Tuesday on what the County Commission declared as a day named in their honor.

Reba Glass showed up to thank her saviors even though she still suffers the pain of burns that covered 40-percent of her body after the fire January 8th. But that was not her only pain.

“Oh, my heart is still broken,” she told reporters in a soft voice before the ceremonies at the Rockdale County Commission meeting in Conyers Tuesday afternoon. Four of her five children died in the fire.  She and her son, who was six when their duplex burned, were saved by Slater and Stroud. Slater said the rescuers themselves almost died in the effort.

“I wish we could have done more,” he said solemnly.

Glass’s surviving son is thought to have started the fire that killed his four siblings. What does he know of the tragedy?

“He just knows they’re gone,” Glass said. “He misses them.”