FALL RIVER - A Norton man, upset about how his ex-girlfriend was caring for their infant daughter, allegedly kidnapped her and set a fire to a Fall River apartment that seriously injured two other children early Friday.

Luis Berrios, 20, of 9 Norton Glen Road, Norton, was ordered held in jail without bail in Fall River District Court where he pleaded innocent to attempted murder, arson, home invasion and kidnapping.

"He left the building burning with two young children," Assistant District Attorney Garrett Fregault said during a bail hearing.

The two children, a 3-year-old boy, Kelvyn Hernandez, and a 6-year-old girl, Keraliz Hernandez, were rescued by a firefighter from the burning apartment at the Watuppa Heights public housing project.

The mother of the children, Kedys Torres, 24, Berrios's ex-girlfriend, had them from another relationship, according to authorities.

Keraliz Hernandez was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Kelvyn Hernandez was taken to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence. They were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. They were listed in serious but stable condition but were expected to recover.

Police said Berrios went to the apartment around 12:30 a.m. Friday after having a telephone conversation with Torres, who was out with a sister at a bar and left the children with an aunt and six other children.

Fregault said Berrios took his six-month-old daughter out of bed, set fire to a blanket in an adjacent bedroom, then fled with the baby, telling the aunt, "You better get upstairs, there's a fire."

Berrios later dropped his daughter off at his father's house in Providence. He was later apprehended on Interstate 95 near Interstate 495 in Mansfield by Foxboro State Trooper Jason Morse.

The babysitter tried to get to the upstairs bedroom to rescue the children, Fregault said, but was driven back by the heat and smoke. The woman and the other children got out of the apartment safely, according to police.

The first police officers to arrive tried to rescue the children, but were also driven back by intense heat and smoke. They were later rescued by a firefighter.

Berrios, who looked down during his arraignment, allegedly admitted to setting the fire when questioned by police, saying, "everything got out of control," according to court records.

He was ordered held in jail without bail by Judge Christopher Welch at the prosecution's request because his arrest violated a court order for his release in an unrelated case pending in Taunton District Court.

He is due back in the Fall River court for a probable cause hearing on Nov. 23. His lawyer, John Connors of Fall River, said Berrios admitted to taking his daughter and added that there was no court orders preventing him from having custody.

Connors had no comment on the arson and attempted murder allegations. But in court he defended his client whom he said works for a trucking company.

"If he did what they said he did I think that he was not in his right mind at the time," Connors said.

Berrios's mother, Rosa Aponte, was also in court to support her son. She called the allegations "lies."