By Melanie Plenda
The Union Leader
CLAREMONT, N.H. — The two firefighters had no idea if there were zero or 10 people inside the burning apartment building that frosty February night. It was their job to go in.
"(Chamberlain) is awesome,” Lt. Brian Rapp said of his partner, Capt. Alan Chamberlain. “He’s always calm and very thoughtful. ... At a fire scene, you feed off that.”
On their knees, the pair looked through the door of 26 Middle St. and through choking, black smoke, spotted a woman and her dog — unconscious and lying at the bottom of where the stairs used to be. Chamberlain and Rapp squeezed through the entryway, scooped up the woman and dog, carried them out and handed both over to waiting EMTs. Both survived.
It’s because of that quick action that Rapp and Alan Chamberlain are being recognized as heroes tomorrow, along with other recipients of the annual New Hampshire Union Leader Hero Awards. Citizens Bank is hosting the reception for the State House ceremony.
Although the fire department had a full staff of five the night of Feb. 4, 2009, the conditions were not ideal. A firefighter sprained an ankle after falling on ice. It was so cold, the hydrant in front of the apartments was frozen, and the crew had to use precious time finding another one on the opposite corner. Other fire personnel tended to one of the injured residents who made it outside before they got there.
After rescuing the woman and dog, Rapp and Chamberlain went back into the building.
“We had to go back in,” Rapp said. “We couldn’t use the door, so we had to make entry through a window.”
They were lucky, he said; everyone else had gotten out.
Flames had quickly traveled up through interior walls and horizontally into floor cavities, because of the balloon construction of the 19th-century building, Deputy Fire Chief Rick Bergeron said at the time. The fire may have started in a kitchen of one of the first-floor apartments. Investigators believed there may have been a delay in the fire being reported because a resident tried to put it out.
Two people were airlifted to hospitals, one to a burn hospital in Boston, the other to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, for treatment of serious injuries. Another six people who had been inside the building when the fire started also made it out safely.
Nearly 90 minutes passed before the blaze was brought under control at 12:26 a.m. Flames burned through the roof and in every part of the building; it was a total loss.
Rapp, who also serves on the Claremont School Board, has been a firefighter in Claremont since 2005. He was sworn in as a lieutenant April 27.
“It’s complicated,” Rapp said in response to why he’s a firefighter. “I really enjoy helping people. ... It’s a great job, you do get to do good work. But you also see people on what is probably going to be the worst day of their lives. So, it’s complicated.”
The New Hampshire Union Leader Hero Awards honor New Hampshire residents who have risked their lives to save or attempt to save the life of another during the previous year. Recipients will be honored at a 3 p.m. ceremony at the State House in Concord tomorrow, sponsored by Citizens Bank.
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