By Amy Augustine
The Concord Monitor (New Hampshire)
 AP Photo/Jim Cole Stephanie Read shows off a thermal imaging camera at the fire station in in Sanbornton, N.H., Sunday. A thermal imaging camera was used to find Robert Livoti of Waltham, Mass., unconscious and not breathing in his burning seasonal home with little time to spare. |
SANBORNTON, Mass. — A Massachusetts man was rescued from his burning vacation home in Sanbornton early yesterday morning after his wife escaped by jumping out of a second-story window.
Rescue units from four towns responded to the one-alarm blaze at 86 Hueber Drive about 6:30 a.m. Using a thermal imaging camera, which detects body heat through heavy smoke, firefighters found Robert Livoti, 65, of Waltham, Mass., unconscious and not breathing at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the house.
“There was very heavy smoke and zero visibility,” said Deputy Chief Scott Taylor of the Sanbornton Fire Department.
Livoti was resuscitated outside and brought to Franklin Regional Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition yesterday afternoon. Before falling unconscious, Livoti helped his 63-year- old wife, Betty Jane, out of a window over the garage, where she jumped to safety and called for help, Taylor said.
The fire took about an hour to control, and it caused about $40,000 in damage to the vacation home, according to a press release.
The state fire marshal’s office determined the fire was started on the first floor by an extension cord underneath a pile of firewood. The cord overheated, causing the wood to catch fire and spread to nearby furniture, walls and the ceiling.
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