COOPERTOWN, Tenn. -- A man who rushed inside a burning home to save the lives of a grandmother and her two grandchildren said he's being punished for his good deed.

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After his heroic act, he needed medical care but said his insurance wouldn't pay for it.

Randy Drake lives across the street from the house that caught fire and where Gayle Gilley was trying to rescue her grandchildren.

Drake ran across the street to help Gilley get her grandchildren out of the burning home.

By the time Drake got there, 4-year-old Chance was out, but Gilley had gone back in for 6-year-old Carmen.

“Fire was popping. I kept hearing glass break. I had about 2 inches of clear where there was no smoke on the floor. I kept calling out her name, and then the last time I called her name is when I saw her foot. She stepped toward me and started coming to me,” he said.

Drake said he went to the hospital later that morning for treatment from the smoke that he inhaled and that that’s when his good deed was punished.

“The girls up front ran my insurance and found out after talking to my insurance company that (since) it was voluntarily that I went in the house instead of an accident, my insurance wouldn’t pay,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. I honestly thought they had done something wrong or called the wrong number or called the wrong insurance company or something. It was a shock.”

Drake said he would do the same thing again if the situation happened again.

Carmen was released from the hospital Tuesday night and Gilley and Chance are making progress in their recoveries.

An insurance agent said residents should make sure they are insured by a reputable company to prevent this situation from happening.

The children involved in the fire did not have insurance and a fund has been set up for them at the Coopertown City Hall and at Heritage Bank.