Oct. 23 -- As a career firefighter in Washington, D.C., and a 32-year volunteer with the Independent Hose Co. in Frederick, Jeff Scire has run into his fair share of burning buildings.
He usually has close to 50 pounds of safety and breathing equipment to protect him, but none of it was available Monday afternoon as Scire found himself facing a smoke-filled basement less than a mile from his home on Indian Springs Road.
"There was smoke pouring out of the side door into the basement, but when I peeked in there, I heard someone yell, 'Help! Help!' and all I had time to think was, 'Oh, boy, here we go ...' and I pulled my shirt up over my face and I went right in," Scire said.
Having received an alert for a basement fire in the 8800 block of Indian Springs Road at about 4:30 p.m., Scire drove there to see if he could help, but quickly realized that he was a step ahead of the closest responding firefighters en route.
When a woman standing in front of the house told Scire her husband was still inside, Scire knew he had to act.
"Obviously, as a fireman you're trained to use your clothing and take all of those necessary precautions, but I couldn't leave him in there," Scire said. "The main thing was, I had a fighting chance. Me being there was better than me waiting for the engine to get there, and I just did what I was trained to do."
Fortunately, Scire found the man about 5 to 10 feet into the basement and dragged him to safety before he was overwhelmed by the smoke.
By the time the first engines arrived, Scire had safely carried the man to the front yard, said Brian Grossnickle, the volunteer fire company's chief.
"To me, it's pretty significant because the engines weren't there yet and with [Scire] being there in the area, it really made a difference in that person's life," Grossnickle said when reached for comment Tuesday. "We're very proud of him, as we are of all the firefighters we have here at Independent, volunteer and career."
The man, who was not being identified as of Tuesday, was taken by ambulance to a hangar belonging to the Maryland State Police's regional medevac helicopter at nearby Frederick Municipal Airport.
From there, the man was flown to the burn unit at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, according to Battalion Chief Kevin Fox, a spokesman for the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control in about 15 minutes, confining most of the damage to the basement, where it originated, Fox said. The county fire marshal later determined the fire was an accident caused by the victim using a blowtorch at a workbench in the house, Fox said.
The man's condition was not known as of Tuesday afternoon, but Scire's actions helped ensure he had a chance to pull through, Fox and Grossnickle agreed.
As for Scire, within an hour of the rescue, he was driving to the Independent Hose Co. to teach a scheduled course for new recruits at the station. On Tuesday, he returned to his station in Washington, D.C., to complete some training of his own ahead of a 24-hour shift.
"Now, thinking about it, I guess it was pretty stupid," Scire said with a laugh, remembering how he began choking on smoke as he pulled the man to safety without an air tank or breathing mask. "But any fireman would do the same. It's just one of those things where, when the time comes, you do what has to be done."
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