Fire Department of New York (FDNY) firefighters rescued four people from an apartment fire Saturday, according to reports.
FDNY Lieutenant George Mueller of Ladder 107 described the scene thus on social media:
“When we pulled up on scene, we saw heavy smoke coming out of the rear of the building. We made our way up to the eighth floor through the thick black smoke. We were able to figure out what apartment it was and we immediately started to force the door. When we got the door to the apartment open, we were met with a wall of black smoke that came out into the hallway. When I began my search, there was zero visibility. About 10 feet in, I found an individual. I called it over the radio and Firefighter Khalid Lewis and I began to remove the person from the apartment. At the same time Firefighter Khalid Lee found another individual during his search. He brought the individual out where Firefighter Lewis was able to assist with the removal. During this time, I continued my search. I went back into the apartment and found a third person. At the same time, Firefighter Lewis continued his search and found the fourth person. There was a total of four people rescued from this fire. Everyone did a great job forcing the door, making searches, and putting the fire out.”
Firefighter Khalid Lewis said: “I was assigned the irons position. We worked as a team to find the fire and individuals. It was a very high heat situation and we relied on our training in order to remove everyone from the fire. It was a collective effort.”
Firefighter Khalid Lee said: “I was assigned the can position. This was a coordinated effort. We split up during the search and we were able to find the individuals in the apartment with zero visibility. We train for this and with hard work and great leadership, we were ready for this and we were able to succeed.”
The New York Post reported that the victims were a woman and three children. The patients were transported to local hospitals with serious injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
RELATED FIREFIGHTER TRAINING
Training Minutes: Search with the Water Can
Podcast: In Their Own Words: Nick Ledin on Firefighter Search and Rescue
