The Heart Behind The Hero - A Life Saved
A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Around four-thirty in the morning my engine company, Engine 3, pulled up to the burning two-family home on James Street. Fire ran rapid through all three floors. Dense black smoke poured out of every window in the front, and halfway to the rear. The fire had started in the front of the house and moved toward the rear at such a quick pace, we couldn't imagine anyone still being alive in this inferno.
People yelled, "There are two children trapped inside!" My officer ordered the deck gun to the front of the building and ran around to the rear of the house to attempt a rescue. From left to right, I immediately began spraying the front of the building with our deck gun. I used up the five-hundred gallons in our tank within a minute. The fire was so intense that my effort had little effect. I immediately jumped down from the fire truck and ran around back to see if I could help my Captain in our rescue attempt.
When I got to the back door, Captain Moore was nowhere to be found. Another firefighter informed me that he went inside to make an attempt at rescue. The door he entered was filled with the blackest smoke I had ever seen. I began to crawl into the building through the smoke-filled passage to find and assist the Captain, only to bump into him a few feet inside. The Captain and Lieutenant Muscanelli from Rescue 1 were dragging out an adult male. I helped them get the man safely away from the building. The two officers promptly started resuscitation efforts.
At that point, I heard a woman behind me screaming, "My baby! My baby!"
Her desperate calls made my blood run cold, and the hair stand on the back of my neck. I turned to her and asked, "Where's the baby?"
"In the bedroom!" she cried.
"Don't do it," Captain Moore yelled, as he stood and grabbed me by the shoulder. "It's going to blow any second!"
I looked at the building and could see he was right. But something inside me said, "You can do it."
I masked up again, wondering if I could pull it off. I knew the woman's voice would haunt me forever if I didn't at least try.
As I went toward the rear door, black smoke was being pushed by a wall of fire that began to spread across the kitchen ceiling. I knew that I could make it to the bedrooms, but I wouldn't be able to return the same way. I'd have to go out the bedroom window. Hopefully, with a child in my arms.
Four minutes had passed since we pulled up in front of this nightmare. I had to make a life-or-death decision, alone, on my knees … and with no hose line.
The clock ticked. No more time to think. I was on my feet, running through the kitchen toward the front of the flat. The heat knocked me down to my knees and I began crawling. As I entered the bedroom, I stood up and immediately began to look and feel for my window exit. The visibility was only a few inches due to the dense smoke, so I ran my gloved hands along the wall hoping to find the window. My right hand found the edge of the window frame. Then I bumped into a large piece of furniture. As I felt along and around this stereo cabinet or bookshelf, I realized it was blocking the window, my only way out!
My chest began to burn with fear. Visibility had become more a state of mind than fact, and I suddenly realized I would have to retrace my steps back through the kitchen, which by this time had to be completely engulfed in flames.
For the first time, ever, I feared for my life. Pushing the fear to one side, I began to search the room. Back on my knees, I crawled and felt the area around me. I located the side of a bed and quickly found the top.
Nothing.
Without hesitation I crawled around to the opposite side of the bed. Suddenly, as I crawled, my hand rested upon a small leg. It startled me and for a moment I couldn't move. Still blinded by the smoke, I gently ran my hands up the torso to the head and thought, a small child. My emotions raced between being horrified and elated. I had to get this child out of there.
Cradling the child in one arm, I crawled toward the bedroom door, only to discover the kitchen had begun to light up. The fire enveloped the entire ceiling and had moved down the walls. I had no choice but to continue crawling, through the fire-engulfed kitchen, toward the rear exit. The heat was intense, but I continued on, finally reaching the rear porch.
We did mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR on the child until the air ambulance arrived and airlifted him to a Bronx hospital. There the child received further treatment and survived.
Later I learned there had been another child in the same room. One I had missed. Through the days that followed, I hovered between elation and depression for thelife saved, and the life lost.
Since that day, I realize that life is fleeting, and can't be taken for granted. If I had known about the second child, and had taken the extra time to search, I wouldn't have been able to save either of them, and probably would not have survived myself. Both people I helped that morning are alive and well today.
I truly believe that this rescue was a stepping stone to make me more aware of my own mortality and that of others. I developed a deeper appreciation for the little things in life. Days that used to be nice spring days turned into, Beautiful Spring Days! I tend to be a bit more cautious and more aware of my surroundings. I have no desire to stare death in the face the way I did that morning.
Not long after the rescue, a reporter doing an article on the department asked me how it felt to be a hero. My response: "I don't know about being a hero, but I do know it feels great to be a fireman!"
Doug Faulisi
Firefighter
Schenectady Fire Department
Schenectady, New York
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