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East Hartford-- Quick decisions may have saved the lives of some East Hartford firefighters after a fire flash left them just seconds to get out.
Watch the story with News Channel 8's Leigh Frillici "My brother-in-law was in the kitchen cooking fish sticks and what happened, the oil from the pan that he was cooking the fish sticks in spilled over and hit the wall and just caught on fire," says Bruno Lachance, East Hartford.
Relatives say it started as a kitchen fire on the second floor of this three family home on Judson Street in East Hartford.
The few people inside got out, but for firefighters inside the fire turned dangerous.
"It basically just flashed from one end of the building to the other. They had to bail out," says Chief Michael Eremita, East Hartford Fire Dept.
"They got instantly hot."
Lt. Bob Jano was one of the firefighters inside on the third floor when the fire flashed. He knew they had to get out fast.
Jano says,"It is virtually unsurvivable at this temperatures. We are talking temperatures of excess of several hundred degrees."
It was pitch black inside and Jano and another firefighter headed towards windows to jump out.
"The guy that bailed out fortunately picked a window with something underneath it. A roof of a porch," says Jano.
That firefighter was taken off the roof by a ladder. Jano was called back from his window by other firefighters inside. He had the hose and the stairs were catching fire.
"The guys that were still in the hallway were reporting that there was heavy fire in the stairwell and we needed to get out while the going was good," says Jano.
Jano headed for the stairs and it turned out to be a wise decision that kept him in one piece. Later he realized the window he was going to jump out of didn't have a porch and he would have fallen about 24 feet.
"This is a major event. When a firefighter decides to bail out a window it is because he really does not have any other options available to him," says Jano.
