By JESSICA HESLAM
The Boston Herald
Copyright 2006 Boston Herald Inc.
Fall River firefighter Neil Furtado had just finished his shift and was playing baseball when he heard the familiar sound of fire trucks.
As soon as he saw the black smoke, Furtado bolted from right field, running nearly four blocks to the chaotic scene outside the burning Portuguese social club.
“As soon as I got there, the fire was already blowing out the front window, probably 6 to 8 feet onto the sidewalk,” Furtado said yesterday of the Wednesday night blaze that killed four women.
Still in his baseball uniform, Furtado sprang into action, helping his brethren tie up the hose lines and get a water supply. When he turned around, he “started seeing burn victims everywhere.”
Ambulances hadn’t yet arrived, so Furtado, a trained emergency medical technician, grabbed a medical bag and went to work tending to the wounded.
Furtado’s biggest concern was an 18-month-old girl whose lips, face and hands were burned. The girl has since been released from the hospital.
“The toughest thing was getting her from her grandmother’s arms, but I managed to do that,” said Furtado, who gave the baby some oxygen and then handed her to a paramedic.
One of the burn victims Furtado helped was John Raposa, the husband of Isabel Raposa, who perished in the fire. John Raposa was pulled through a window and was holding his wife’s hand, but she lost her grip.
Furtado was at the scene nearly three hours and was taken to a nearby hospital himself after suffering an asthma attack.
Furtado, a firefighter for nearly five years and the father of two sons, grew up near the burning building.
“I think any firefighter in any community in this country would have done the same exact thing,” Furtado said.