Two courageous firefighters from the FDNY executed a remarkable rescue on Tuesday, saving a Bronx man who was precariously stuck with his head protruding six inches out of a third-floor window during a large apartment fire, according to one of the rescuers on Friday.
Captain John Hunt described the urgent situation on East 187th Street near Belmont Avenue, where a fire tragically claimed the lives of two individuals and left nearly a dozen others injured. “He was in desperate need. He was running short on time,” Hunt recounted.
The trapped man reportedly told Hunt, “I can’t make it,” to which Hunt, from Ladder 56, responded with encouragement, “You’re gonna make it.” Hunt, alongside fellow firefighter Tommy Burke, managed to save the imperiled resident.
As hundreds of firefighters rushed to rescue occupants from the five-story building, including those trapped on the roof and hanging out of windows, the victim’s brother urgently sought Hunt’s help.
“A civilian came and grabbed me, would not let go of my arm, kept saying, ‘My brother’s trapped, my brother’s trapped,'” Hunt recalled during a press conference discussing the fire.
The brother led Hunt into a neighboring building, where Hunt accessed the lobby through a “wine shaft alleyway” and found the victim stuck in a shaft on the third floor.
“He was trapped up there. He had his head six inches out at the top of the window,” Hunt explained.
Hunt guided the unidentified victim to shatter the window while his fellow firefighters gathered two 24-foot ladders.
“He finally broke the window, ended up cutting his arm, but he was actually able to get lower, get his head back [in],” Hunt said.
Burke then ascended the ladder, removed an air conditioner from the window, and pulled the man to safety.
“He grabbed him, took him out head first, down the ladder,” Hunt noted.
“I can’t stress the job that these guys did, just getting the ladders into the back, getting them set up, teamwork is what it’s all about,” Hunt emphasized.
More than 270 firefighters and EMS workers responded to the nearly 120-year-old building shortly after 1:30 p.m. when the fire reportedly started on the first floor.
The fire spread quickly due in part to several doors being left open in the expansive building, Deputy Commissioner Dan Flynn stated on Friday.
“The door was left open to the fire apartment, the door was left open to the front of the building, and the door was left open to the bulkhead which is the exit to the roof,” Flynn said.
“If not for those doors being open, we believe that the fire may have even been contained in that one apartment and we would not have lost anybody,” he added. “We cannot stress to you enough: Please close the door when there is a fire.”
