by JIMMY VIELKIND and DAVE GOLDINER
A quick-thinking Brooklyn teenager nicknamed "Toughie" rescued her five younger cousins - including an infant - yesterday from a fire that swept through their East Flatbush home as they slept. Time after time, Yaneisha Harrison, 18, defied flames and smoke to go back inside the house and pluck the kids - ranging in age from 11 months to 11 years - to safety. "Thank God for her," said her aunt Ann Marie Harrison, 32. "They're all small kids and they didn't know what to do. She's a hero." Keyanne Harrison, 11, admitted being terrified by the fire, but said her cousin kept her cool and averted a tragedy that could have wiped out the family. "She helped me," Keyanne said. "Yeah, she's a hero." Yaneisha, her cousins and their father were all sleeping in their home on E. 52nd St. when Keyanne smelled smoke and woke up her older cousin in another room around 9 a.m. "They were all in there sleeping," Yaneisha said. "One of the girls said she smelled smoke." The Tilden High School senior went to investigate a cable TV connection and spotted smoke and flames building behind a door. "I was scared, I was nervous," said Yaneisha. "All I could think about was how I could get them out of the house." The kids' father was cut off from the rest of the family by the flames and escaped out the front of the house. That left Yaneisha to lead the kids out the back door. One at a time, she brought the children to the backyard, then passed them over a fence to a neighbor. "I had to go back four times and there was more smoke and fire each time," she said. "It was running on the roof and the wall." Fire officials said they were called to the one-alarm blaze at 9:18 a.m. About 60firefighters responded and declared the fire under control at 9:47 a.m. The fire, which started in the basement, gutted the first two floors of the threestory townhouse, which the family has owned for about four years. The Red Cross offered help with food and a temporary place to stay. Hours later, the children - Keyanne, 11; Keyron, 7; Kevon, 5; Kaydiann, 4, and Jaden, 11 months - stood around in smoke-stained T-shirts. Yaneisha was still wearing her pajamas, and soot covered her ankles after the harrowing rescue drama. The kids ran up to Yaneisha when they saw her walk up to a relative's house where they will be staying. "Thank you," they chimed in on cue. Kevon said Yaneisha lived up to her nickname, and then some. "We call her 'Toughie,'" said Kevon. "She's pretty tough - for a girl." Yaneisha came to New York from Jamaica at age 9. A good student, she plays on her school's soccer team, hopes to attend Hunter College and plans to become a nurse. The teen insisted she didn't have time to think about the danger until the ordeal was all over. "After, I said, 'Thank you, God,' and I felt good," Yaneisha said. "After I got everybody out, I felt like a hero."
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