By Carol DeMare
The Times Union
ALBANY, N.Y. — On their hands and knees, three firefighters crawled into the burning building, searching for trapped people.
They found a man and carried him out where two other firefighter-paramedics went to work to resuscitate him.
On Thursday, Sean Dubanowich attended a City Hall ceremony honoring those who saved his life at 3:50 a.m. on Dec. 11, commemorated in plaques given to each rescuer.
“We got lucky,” said Lt. Donald Urbano of the Rescue Squad, the first to come upon a motionless Dubanowich. He lived in a first-floor studio apartment toward the front of the Madison Avenue building, so firefighters didn’t have to look for a bedroom. Firefighters Leonard Maher and Richard Allen helped carry him out.
“You’re going entirely by feel,” said the 56-year-old Urbano, a 33-year veteran.
Dubanowich, 34, of Scotia was seated in front surrounded by family. Mayor Jerry Jennings called the department “the best in the nation” and told Dubanowich, “I’m glad you’re with us today.” He then suggested, “You can smile.”
Dubanowich said he awoke, realized the building was on fire and heard other tenants coming down the stairs, but “I passed out before I could get out.”
He next remembers waking up at Albany Medical Center Hospital. He worked transporting cars but “my eyes are messed up.” He has been told they will get better.
Of the firefighters, he said, “they’re amazing.”
“He was dead,” Fire Chief Robert Forezzi Sr. said. “We found him, removed him and resuscitated him. There is no day ... without training ... and the incident at 598 Madison Avenue was the result of that training.”
Capt. Michael Cox, 43, an 18-year veteran assigned to Rescue I said he told Dubanowich’s family everyone seemed to be working hard to bring him back.
Dubanowich was on the sidewalk in front of the steps and Cox and Firefighter Justin Crosier worked on him as water came down, windows broke and embers fell around them.
“We were optimistic, but also realistic, a lot of times we’re not successful,” Cox said. Crosier put a tube into the victim’s lungs because his airway was swollen and red from inhaling hot air and gases.
CPR continued during the three-minute ride to Albany Med. Halfway there, Dubanowich “began trying to breath on his own” and his pressure returned, Cox said.