NY Firefighter Reunites with Boy He Saved in 1998 Fire
Source Firehouse.com News
A New York firefighter was reunited this week with a man who the first responder rescued 23 years earlier.
During their meeting Sunday at the Poughkeepsie Elks Club, recently retired Arlington firefighter William Porter embraced Jacob Tsukroff, a 26-year-old Poughkeepsie man who had been trapped with his older brother in a Jan. 31, 1998, house fire, the Poughkeepsie Journal reports. Tsukroff's 4-year-old brother, Daniel, didn't survive the fire.
"You've always been on my mind," Porter told Tsukroff, who thanked the firefighter. "I've always wondered how you've been."
During the fire, Porter and another firefighter searched the burning home and found the brothers in the basement. Porter carried out the 2-year-old Jacob, while the other firefighter pulled out Daniel.
Porter and his partner were given department life-saving medals for their efforts later in 1998. Despite displaying it next to the back door of his home, Porter was haunted by Daniel's death during the call, and over the years, he told his daughter, Jesscia Scalamandre, that he wished he could meet Jacob to see how he was doing.
"I remember every time that he would tell it, he would have this moment of kind of gathering his thoughts and take a deep breath," Scalamandre told the Journal. "He told me that he knew that there were two little boys in the basement and he just said a prayer, real quick, and ran in and didn't think twice about it. And he, of course, shielded me from the fact that the other little boy passed away for quite some time."
Her father's desire to see the young boy he saved motivated Scalamandre to hunt down Tsukroff. She stepped up her efforts when as her dad prepared to retire this year on the anniversary of the fire and rescue.
Scalamandre began a concerted search for Tsukroff in November. A Facebook search revealed that she worked at the same company as Tsukroff's dad, and she contacted him through the business.
On March 1, Tsukroff contacted Scalamandre via text, and the two met the next day to set up Sunday's surprise reunion with Porter.
"Meeting Jacob has filled a void," Porter told the Journal "Finally. I've seen a lot of bad stuff through the firehouse over the years and to finally meet him is incredible. To finally and meet and see the end result is something good, for a situation that wasn't easy."
