By Kathy Coffta Sims and Mike McAndrew
The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)
Copyright 2007 Post-Standard
All Rights Reserved
| FireRescue1 Video News N.Y. firefighter injured while battling blaze  |
ONEIDA, N.Y. — When the roof of the burning City Lanes tavern and bowling alley fell on Oneida firefighter Mitch Dryer early Sunday, Chief Don Hudson was coordinating the firefighting effort and had to watch from the street.
Hudson said he felt helpless as he listened to the radio while up to 16 other firefighters worked furiously to free Dryer from the tangle of debris.
“Every one of our guys that was on scene was in that building. They were literally taking the building off of him piece by piece,” he said.
Dryer, 33, a two-year veteran of the department, was critically injured as he fought the fire at 210 Main St. The fire was reported at 3:27 a.m.
He was still in critical condition at University Hospital Sunday night, a nursing supervisor said.
“He’s in critical condition, but he’s stable,” Hudson said. “He’s tough, he’s young and he’s a fighter. He’s holding his own.”
Dryer had been a subject of Post-Standard news accounts recently. In September, he left for four months in Iraq as part of a firefighting squad. In March, he was one of the first on the scene when a CSX train derailed in Oneida.
Sunday, he was part of a five-man crew of initial responders. They were joined by five other departments.
He and Lt. Rob Cowles had located an area of fire in the attic of the building, Hudson said.
“The operations were running like they normally do. They started pulling ceiling tiles down and then the roof collapsed on him,” Hudson said.
Hudson said the building has been remodeled several times and a number of dropped ceilings and materials from the roof itself came down on Dryer.
“There was fire everywhere,” said Deputy Chief Mike Whipple. The firefighters who weren’t trying to free Dryer were using hoses to keep the blaze under control and away from their injured co-worker, Whipple said.
Once Dryer was freed, he was taken to Oneida Healthcare Center before being transferred to the Burn Unit at University.
Cowles suffered minor injuries and was treated at Oneida Healthcare Center and later released, Hudson said.
Hudson said he has asked the state’s Office of Fire Prevention and Control to conduct the investigation into the cause of the blaze.
“I couldn’t have my guys go back over there after everything that happened this morning,” he said.
Randall Shadic, a chief in the Arson Bureau in the state Office of Fire Prevention, said the Madison County fire coordinator requested the state office assist the Oneida Fire Department in the investigation into the fire’s cause.
He said investigators haven’t determined the cause, or identified where the fire began in the building. The state’s involvement doesn’t mean that the fire is suspicious, he said.
“This is a typical response for us when there’s a large dollar-loss fire or there’s a firefighter or civilian injury,” Shadic said.
Right now, Dryer’s co-workers are helping each other stay strong, Hudson said.
“I had a talk with them late this morning as a group,” Hudson said. “We go through everything together, and we’ll get through this together.”
In September, Dryer was deployed to Iraq as part of the 174th Fighter Wing’s civil engineering squadron at Hancock Field. Dryer spent time at Ali Air Base in Nasiriyah in south central Iraq.
“Mitch is a firefighter with the 174th,” said Col. Anthony Basile, the commander of the Air National Guard’s 174th Fighter Wing, based in Mattydale. “He returned from Iraq about a month ago. Maybe six weeks ago.”
Basile said the unit’s fire chief visited Dryer in the hospital on Sunday.
“They’re telling him, what I’m being told, is it looks like he’s going to make it,” Basile said.
Hudson said this is the first time in more than 40 years that a city of Oneida firefighter has been critically injured on the job.
“The last time was Sept. 26, 1963. Two firefighters were killed by a train,” Hudson said.
The bowling alley has been owned for more than 20 years by Paul and Brenda Manaseri. Built in 1973, the building was assessed at $159,600, according to assessment records. The Manaseris also own The Madison House restaurant in Oneida.
In March 1987, a fire that damaged three downtown buildings, leaving about 100 apartment dwellers homeless, scorched the bowling alley building.
That fire destroyed the Cochran Building, which was adjacent to the bowling alley.
About nine months after the 1987 blaze, a 13-year old boy and 15-year-old boy were charged with arson in the case.