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Brian Dail’s voice falters when he talks about his life in Kenosha.

“Nothing has gone right since I came here,” he said.

Dail, 36, said he and his wife and children became homeless. He clashed with people at local shelters over rule violations. His children were taken into foster care. His wife filed for divorce.

Despite his troubles, Dail’s life took a turn for the heroic this week when he ran into a burning apartment building to save a 5-year-old stranger.

Dail was mentioned in a Kenosha Police report for his role in pulling the girl from a fire Sunday in a four-unit apartment building at 2106 61st Street.

According to Dail, he was visiting his brother who lives in the building when they smelled smoke. At first, he said, they thought the smoke was drifting in from outside. Then it got heavy, and they realized the building was on fire.

“I ran outside without my shoes or coat,” he said.

Outside, he said, people were shouting that there was still a child in an upstairs apartment. He said he ran inside, at first encountering a cat that he took outside. The smoke was so heavy, he said, that he was driven out to catch a breath of air. Then went back in to try again.