FDNY Members Save Three Children from Fire
Firefighters from Ladder 107, (L to R) FF Justin Tallett, Lt. Christopher Bedard and FF Frank Blackstone.
FDNY firefighters and EMS members saved the lives of three young children from a fire on Loring Avenue in Brooklyn on July 29.
“It’s what we strive to do every day and it’s a good thing to be able
to save someone’s life,” Lt. Christopher Bedard, Ladder 107, said.
“Everyone involved did a phenomenal job.”
Firefighters were called to the building just after 11 a.m. As they
responded, the members of Ladder 107, including Lt. Bedard, and
Firefighters Timothy Sonnenberg, Daniel Simon, Frank Blackstone, Michael
Pfaff and Justin Tallett, were told there were children trapped in the
fourth-floor fire apartment.
Upon arrival, Firefighter Blackstone and Firefighter Sonnenberg, the
company’s chauffeur, went to the rear of the residence with the fire
apparatus. They saw there were children in the window, with their heads
between the child guards.
Even though there was a fence and trees blocking them, Firefighter
Blackstone said, “As soon as we saw the kids, we knew we had to do
everything we could to help.”
Firefighter Sonnenberg guided the rig through the trees and crushed
part of a fence to position it perfectly. He then moved Firefighter
Blackstone in the bucket to the window.
He said the children (ages 8 and 5) were crying, but calm. They
backed up a little bit while he cut the child gate with a saw, and he
then lifted them from the window into the bucket.
“They did a good job getting to the window,” he said. “They were very brave.”
He asked if anyone else was in the apartment, and the older child
said his sister (who was with him), brother and grandfather. He
reassured them that firefighters inside the apartment would help their
brother and grandfather, and he checked an adjacent window before
bringing them to awaiting police officers on the ground.
The window from which two of the children were rescued.
Simultaneously, Lt. Bedard, Firefighter Pfaff and Probationary
Firefighter Tallett went upstairs to the fire floor. The apartment door
had been left open when the grandfather self-evacuated, so the entire
fourth floor was filled with smoke.
The firefighters crawled down the hallway to the fire apartment. The
fire was in the living room, and they were able to keep the flames back
with their water can as firefighters from Engine 225 hooked up to the
hydrant, which was in a challenging location behind the building.
There were two rear bedrooms and Firefighter Pfaff went to search one
while Firefighter Tallett, a former Army medic, searched the other.
Firefighter Tallett said he saw a television with cartoons on in the
room, and what appeared to be a crib or bunk beds. He felt below some
blankets and found an unconscious 3-year-old boy who was not breathing.
He carried him out through the apartment and downstairs to awaiting firefighters.
From there, the boy was passed along to EMTs Kenneth Barriteau and
Ewelina Zielinska from Station 39. They resuscitated him on the way to
the hospital.
All members were humble about their involvement in the rescues.
“You don’t really think about anything going on, you just focus on
your job,” Probationary Firefighter Tallett said about his first rescue
since graduating from the Academy on June 3. “It’s a great feeling to be
able to save people.”
Firefighter Blackstone agreed, “This is what this job is all about. I’m just glad they’re ok.”
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