By Juliet Chung
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2007 Newsday, Inc.
WEST ISLIP, N.Y. — The black smoke was spilling from the burning West Islip home when volunteer firefighter Lt. Al Cinotti ran up to it.
It was even thicker inside, where he crawled without any protective gear, searching for the man who had moaned when Cinotti called out.
With his face inches from the living room floor, the father of three grabbed the pant loop of a semiconscious Adrian Woodward, 78, and dragged him to safety. He even rescued Woodward’s dog.
“It didn’t feel as easy as training,” Cinotti recalled this week of his efforts on Jan. 5 of last year for which the state firefighters’ association is naming him Firefighter of the Year today.
Cinotti, 33, is the third Suffolk firefighter to be so honored by the association in the past four years. In the award’s 51-year history, Long Island firefighters have been named recipients more than half the time.
“There were quite a few great rescues ... this year, but Al just went above and beyond,” said Roger Putnam, chairman of the selection committee for the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York.
Those who volunteer with Cinotti, a 15-year volunteer firefighter who works for MacArthur Airport’s fire rescue department, said they weren’t surprised by his derring-do.
“That’s how Al is,” said Jack Parrett, a former chief of the West Islip Fire Department. “If anybody had to do the job, Al is the one to do it.”
Chief Michael Delgado said the department was proud of Cinotti and that such rescues were rare for the department.
“It’s something every firefighter trains for and when it becomes a reality, it’s got to be the proudest moment in a firefighter’s career,” he said.
Cinotti was driving home from the station when he saw a trail of smoke and followed it to the burning home on Higbie Lane. He can still remember the intense heat, he said in an interview at the firehouse this week.
“I thought my head was going to burn,” he said. “I kept thinking about how I didn’t want to look like Freddy Krueger for my kids, but I didn’t want to leave him in there.”
Moments after Cinotti stumbled out with Woodward, an explosion rocked the house.