By FDNY
NEW YORK — They said they were just doing their job, but firefighters were able to save the lives of three people in Brooklyn after an overnight fire tore through their home on Aug. 27.
Firefighters were called to an apartment building on Colby Court and the Belt Parkway at 2:28 a.m.
The members of Engine 245 and Ladder 161 said they saw fire blowing out the windows on the top floor of the six-story building.
The inside team, including Lt. Edward Gonzalez, and Firefighters Nick Shelse and Keith Norris from Ladder 161, walked up to the sixth floor, where they found heavy smoke in the hallway. They found the door to the fire apartment was open, so they began to search for victims immediately.
Even though there was no visibility in the apartment, they quickly found the first victim, a 72-year-old woman who was semi-conscious near the front door. Although she was dazed, she was able to tell firefighters there were two other people in the apartment.
So Firefighter Shelse said he carried her down a few floors to safety and returned to help continue to search.
There was high heat and smoke in the apartment. Firefighter Norris was holding back the fire with an extinguisher, but was running out of water, so they found another company in the hallway with a can as they continued to search.
But conditions got dangerous as the fire spread to the cockloft (area between the ceiling of the top floor and the roof), so they had to let members of Engine 245 stretch the hose line up the six flights of stairs and start getting water on the fire before they continued.
Firefighters said they pressed forward with their search as quickly as possible and found a second victim, a woman in her 80s, in a back bedroom and passed her off to firefighters in the hallway. Lt. James Kelly from Engine 245 found the third victim, a man in his 80s, in a bedroom.
The two-alarm fire was brought under control at 3:55 a.m.
EMS transported the victims to area hospitals in stable condition. They are being treated for smoke inhalation. Six firefighters also were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries.
Fire marshals said there were no working smoke alarms in the apartment and the fire was electrical, starting in an area of the room where many electrical appliances were plugged.
“It feels great,” Firefighter Shelse said of saving the three individuals. “We just happened to have the inside position today. I know anyone else would have done the same thing.”
Republished with permission from FDNY.