IRONWOOD, Mich.-- Rescue is the top priority for firefighters, and that's just what Ironwood volunteer firefighter Mike Wiemeri did Friday morning in downtown Ironwood.
Without wearing his turnout gear, Wiemeri entered the burning building on the corner of Aurora and Lowell streets at about 11 a.m. and rescued Theresa Vernetti, 63, from her third-floor apartment.
"I did what we are trained to do, and rescue is the top priority," Wiemeri said. "I didn't do anything different than any other firefighter would have done."
Wiemeri was at work across the street at the Moe and Nevin Insurance Adjusters when he spotted the fire and called 911. Already wearing his jacket, he charged down the stairs, en route to the burning building.
At the same time, Wiemeri's co-worker yelled, "There is smoke coming out of the front window, and there's a lady looking out."
Seeing Vernetti in a third floor window, Wiemeri said, "I had to get into the building to save her."
Crossing the street, Wiemeri said, "I knew I had to get in there and rescue the lady." But when he reached the building, the downstairs door to the apartments was locked. Wiemeri kicked the door in.
"I proceeded to kick the front door, and after seven or eight kicks, the wood window fell out, so I could unlock the door."
He climbed a long flight of stairs in the building, by then filled with black smoke.
"When I got to the top of the stairway, I couldn't tell which way to go to get to the front apartment. I felt a wall to my right, so I knew I had to go to the left."
Wiemeri said he didn't know how to find her because of the darkness and black smoke. He heard her cry out.
"I could hear a faint voice saying, 'Help me. Please help me.'"
Asked what was going through his mind at that time, Wiemeri said, "It is like time stood still. It was dark. It was like a maze. You could not see your hand in front of your face."
He then asked Vernetti if her door was open or shut. She said, "It's open."
Wiemeri told Vernetti he was there to help her and instructed her to come to his voice. "I could not see anything because of the darkness and the heavy black smoke, so I reached out with my hand and felt her hand, and I then led her to the staircase, where IPSD Det. Sgt. Rod Passuello was waiting."
Passuello escorted Vernetti down the stairs.
"Thoughts were going through my mind at the time. I was a little worried about my own safety, but the biggest thing was doing the rescue, helping the lady," Wiemeri said.
He had never had to perform a rescue before, "but it's something I had thought about many times, when and if the situation ever comes about." He said he just followed his instincts.
After Vernetti was led to safety, and Wiemeri still not wearing his turnout gear, he said the adrenaline took over. "I yelled out, 'Is there anybody in here, the building is on fire?'"
Not hearing anything, Wiemeri went down to the second floor and yelled again. "I heard a man yell that his door was locked and he could not open it, so I told him to stand back. I kicked open the door, saw a man, and told him he needed to get out of the building because it's on fire."
Wiemeri then exited the building. He said he saw IPSD officer Andrew DiGiorgio shooting water inside the building and told him there might be some other people inside and asked him to put on an air pack.
"He immediately gave me the hose, with which I continued to knock down the fire inside the building until I was relieved by another firefighter who was wearing his gear."
Wiemeri then called his wife, Donna, and asked her to bring his turnout gear.
While waiting for his gear, Wiemeri said he assisted with traffic control near and at the scene.
He said he suffered from smoke inhalation, but did not need medical treatment.
When Donna arrived with the gear, she said he was at an intersection about a block away from the burning building, directing traffic.
"I didn't think anything of it," she said, thinking that Wiemeri was waiting for the turnout gear before starting to fight the fire.
"I didn't tell my wife about anything that had happened at the fire until we were at a fish fry that night. You don't want your family to worry about things when you respond to fires," Wiemeri said.
After hearing about the rescue without the turnout gear, Donna said, "It shaved another year off my life when he told me."
After digesting it for awhile, Donna said, "It doesn't surprise me. He would do it again in a heartbeat. He is just that kind of guy."
Wiemeri urges everyone to check their smoke alarms and to buy an extra one for Christmas because, "I don't think you can have too many."
Republished with permission of the Daily Globe.
