An off-duty Cicero (IL) firefighter rescued two men from the second floor of a burning building in Lyons, according to reports.
CBS reported that Cicero Fire Department Lieutenant Brian Kulaga said he was running errands Friday afternoon when he noticed fire in the second floor apartments above Waterworks Tavern.
Lieutenant Kulaga reportedly alerted those in the bar about the fire, then proceeded to the second floor, where he removed two from the smoke-filled conditions.
“I found the first resident about eight feet in, walked him out,” Lieutenant Kulaga told reporters. “Asked him about anybody else in the building. He mentioned he had somebody else up there. I went in. I could hear that gentleman calling for help. Smoke was about a foot from the floor. I just crawled toward his voice, found him, pulled him down to the floor, and dragged him out of the building.”
Lyons Fire Chief Gordon Nord lauded Lieutenant Kulaga’s actions, noting that the firefighter had no PPE and had to get on his stomach to navigate through the smoke condition. “He went up the stairs with no protective gear on, with no regard for his life at all, to save two people who were occupied on the second floor,” Chief Nord told CBS.
RELATED FIREFIGHTER TRAINING
Podcast: In Their Own Words: Sean Duffy on Survivability and Search Ops
Training Minutes: Effective Search Operations
