Joseph A. Dea Jr., the young man from Tamaqua who saved three children from a burning building in Philadelphia on Feb. 8, received some welcome news this week. Dea told the TIMES NEWS yesterday that he had received word from the Medical College of Pennsylvania that his medical bills will be paid by the state and the hospital.

Dea was a passenger in a van that was taking a co-worker home from

M.A.V. Associates in Upper Darby, when he saw flames shooting from a second-floor apartment in North Philadelphia.Without regard to his own personal safety, Dea entered the smoke-filled apartment and rescued three children.