A New York firefighter was injured early Sunday after falling from the second floor to the basement when a stairway collapsed during a residential blaze.
The fire broke out shortly before 7 a.m. at a home in Utica, WKTV-TV reports. As crews reached the scene, they smoke coming from the house's first and second floors, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard.
Deputy Chief Matt Ambrose was supervising firefighters working to open second-floor walls and ceilings. That's when the stairs gave way, and Ambrose fell from the second floor to the basement.
A mayday was issued, and crews scrambled to pull him from the blaze.
"It's horrible," Chief Scott Ingersoll told WKTV. "We call it a mayday. One of the fire members reported the member had fallen all the way to the basement due to the stairwell collapsing. We have a team on standby for every fire that we respond to. We activated them. Before that team was able to get to them though, other firefighters were able to get to the basement and help the injured firefighter out."
Ambrose suffered a leg injury and was taken to the hospital. He was later released, according to the Post-Standard.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
