SI Advance – December 03, 2014
by Kristin F. Dalton
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Firefighters who pulled a 73-year-old woman out of a burning apartment building in New Springville battled thick black smoke, zero visibility and shooting flames in order to save the woman’s life.
With numerous emergency units already at a fatal roof collapse that happened minutes earlier at a car dealership in nearby Travis, Engine Co. 167 in Annadale received a call about the apartment fire at 90 Richmond Hill Rd. at approximately 8:55 a.m. on Friday.
They hit the scene within minutes, where Lt. John Jensen was the first to enter the building.
He found its first floor engulfed in thick, black smoke.
“The smoke condition was zero, it brought me down to my knees,” said Jensen in an interview with the Advance.
His men weren’t far behind him.
They came across Madeline Cammarato, a resident of the building, lying on the floor.
“I knew the door was open and our training is to check to see if anybody is in there before we close the door [to contain the flames] and I reached in there and she was about four feet into the doorway… she was groaning,” Jensen said. “I finally got her into the hallway and rolled her over to the side and closed the apartment door.”
George McCormick, also of Engine 167, took Ms. Cammarato from the hallway where Jensen pulled her out of the apartment.
“The flames were above their heads and coming out of the top of the doorway,” Jensen said
Ms. Cammarato was rushed to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze. She suffered smoke inhalation.
At this point, Ladder Co. 85 was already on scene. A total of 12 units and approximately 68 members would be on location to bring the blaze under control.
Several firefighters, including McCormick and James Lang sustained minor injuries.
“I like to come back with my guys but with [two of] them being in the hospital, it was bittersweet. Until you see them come back and you know that they’re fine… until they walked into my office, that’s when I knew everything was great… because everybody got to go home to their families,” said Jensen.
Jensen spoke very timidly while recalling the blaze, deflecting credit to “his guys.”
Ms. Cammarato remained at SIUH on Tuesday in critical condition.
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