With just minutes to spare before the flaming roof above them caved in, four elderly residents of a brick triple-decker on Chelsea Street in East Boston -- unaware of the fire that would grow to seven alarms -- have the unflinching bravery of construction worker Paul Antonino to thank for their lives. He ran into the burning building to save them after shushing his terrified 12-year-old daughter's pleas to stay back.
In his own words, Antonino, 53, of Wakefield describes to the Herald's Laurel J. Sweet how a quiet Sunday drive with his little girl Natalie took a turn for the unexpected:
"I was driving down Bennington Street, headed north ... I noticed smoke. Well, I know a fire when I see one. The weird thing was, it's East Boston and there was no one out and about.
"I took a right on Putnam Street, then took a left on Chelsea. As soon as I took the left, I could see the four windows, all full of flames. I parked right across from the scene. There was not really a whole lot of time for me to make an assessment before I ran in.
"Don't call me a hero. I grew up in the North End. I've seen it all before. It's just what you do.
"It was a nightmare. There were flames everywhere. (Natalie) got out and ran up to the building with me. She didn't want me to go in. She was petrified. She's like, 'You're not going in there!' I just said, 'Call the police.' "
Antonino said the front door to the residence was open, but when he got inside, he had to kick in the door to the first-floor apartment, where two elderly women lived, then bust down a security door that opened to an interior staircase and a second floor apartment, where an elderly man and woman were already coming out to see what all the commotion was about. He couldn't recall hearing any smoke alarms going off.
"One (door) led right into an apartment. One of them led to a hallway. You get in, you bang the doors in. You yell, 'Let's go! Let's go!' I walked halfway up the stairs and was yelling. I said, 'Is anybody else upstairs? Come on, we've got to get out.'
"The whole top floor was engulfed and they had no idea. I'd say they were all in their 70s or early 80s. They were just in there, like, 'What's happening?' Heat rises, but the heat was coming down from the top floor. It was like a hot, hot day. He (the man) came out with no shirt on. I had a shirt and a sweater in the truck I gave him. I didn't have to carry them down. They walked on their own.
"The windows (on the top floor) were broken and the embers were falling down. I told them, 'When you go outside, don't look up.' They were in shock."
Because of the extensive damage, firefighters expected to be pouring water on the smoking wreckage for much of the night, and investigators won't be able to get in to search for a cause until today, Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said. The landlords, in whose third-floor apartment the fire apparently began, were out of state at the time, he said. Between 328 and 330 Chelsea St., 16 people, including three children, were left homeless by the conflagration, which MacDonald said caused at least $2.5 million in property damage. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries and a resident was hospitalized in a state of emotional distress, said MacDonald, adding that he believes everyone got out alive.
Copyright 2012 - Boston Herald
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
