As you can imagine, responding to a tragedy like Sunday night's deadly Youngstown fire has an impact on our first responders.
Ptlm. Robert DiMaiolo says the scene was the most horrible one he's been on in his 21 years at the Youngstown Police Department.
"Just knowing that that's somebody's baby that they won't ever see again," he said.
911 call: "Please help my babies"
DiMaiolo was the first police officer to arrive at the fire on Parkcliffe Avenue. He says he knew then that the outcome wasn't good.
"I give the fire department all the credit in the world. Going in there, grabbing the kids. I mean, risking their own lives for these children," he said. "Had a very difficult time fighting this fire both physically and mentally due to the fact of there being five children trapped inside," said Captain Kurt Wright.
While firefighters worked to put out the fire and search the home, DiMaiolo and other officers helped carry the children away from the house. "We're human just like everybody else. We have feelings, we have families, we're not robots, we are human," he said.