TROY, N.Y. -- A city police officer battled through "an opaque wall of smoke" to rescue a disabled 80-year-old woman who was unable to get out of her burning Fourth Avenue home Tuesday morning, authorities said.
Marlene Ciccarelli, 54, was helping her mother, Gloria Anderson, in her second-floor apartment at 334 Fourth Ave. when she smelled smoke before 10:30 a.m.
Ciccarelli decided they had to get out of the two-story, two-family home. She helped her mother into a wheelchair and took her to the second-floor landing to use a lift to ride down the stairs. But the power was out.
"I couldn't get her down the stairs," said Ciccarelli. She called 911, and help arrived in minutes.
Officer Walter Tague was patrolling nearby when the emergency call came in at 10:30 a.m., police said.
Tague could see smoke rising into the sky as he raced to the building, said Capt. John Cooney, a department spokesman.
An upset Ciccarelli told Tague her mother was trapped on the second floor.
Firefighters were on the way, but Tague thought there was no time to wait and headed into the building, where he found the woman in her apartment.
"He literally ran upstairs into the smoke and carried my mother down," said Ciccarelli, who sat with her mother and her golden retriever, Sheba, in her vehicle at the fire scene.
"I just thank God. I just thank God for this police officer. He's literally a hero," said Ciccarelli, who lives on the first floor with her husband, Mark.
Neither Anderson nor Tague was injured in their escape from the fire.
Anderson was quiet after the fire. She reminded her daughter that they had to go to the doctor's office. Ciccarelli said her mother was anxious and upset after the close call.
The fire had been slowly building, sending smoke billowing throughout the structure, said Assistant Fire Chief James Hughs.
At one point firefighters believed the fire was in the basement due to the smoke, but they quickly determined it wasn't.
Firefighters extinguished the fire in about 30 minutes after receiving the 10:30 a.m. alarm, Hughs said.
Arriving firefighters had been advised that Anderson was trapped upstairs as they responded to the call, Hughs said. But when they arrived, they discovered that Tague had rescued her.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The American Red Cross of Northeastern New York is providing financial assistance for food, clothing and temporary lodging. Hughs said the building can be repaired.
Copyright 2012 - Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
