FDNY- Save Woman from Manhattan Fire

Published: August 14, 2014 Firefighters Save Woman from Manhattan Fire Firefighter Christopher DiGiulo and Ladder 18 FDNY firefighters from Ladder 18 saved a woman from a fire in Manhattan on August 13. “This is why you become a firefighter, to help someone,” Firefighter Christopher DiGiulo said. “It’s an amazing feeling.” Lt. Michael Cantwell, and Firefighters DiGiulo, Mathew Marin, John Manning, Harry Antonopoulos and James Trainor were called to a building on Madison Street just after 4 p.m. When they arrived, smoke was pushing out the windows of a fifth floor apartment. Firefighters quickly made their way inside, while the company chauffeur, Firefighter DiGiulo, attempted to move the rig to access the fifth floor window, which proved difficult due to the building’s unusual shape and numerous parked cars blocking access outside. Ladder 6 arrived soon after and experienced similar issues. So the Chief in charge told Firefighter DiGiulo to go inside and help his company search the apartment. Lt. Cantwell told Firefighter DiGiulo to go left to search for victims once inside, while others searched the right side and worked to hold back flames from the fire located in the kitchen. Firefighter DiGiulo crawled down a long hallway, with zero visibility, and located a bedroom door that was open two inches. “I tried to push open but couldn’t, it was wedged,” Firefighter DiGiulo said. “I felt what I thought was a leg, but couldn’t open the door any further, there was too much debris.” So he did the first thing he could think to do – he took the door off its hinges. “We’ve always talked about it, practiced doing it and drilled on it – and all the training paid off,” he said. “It was the first thing that popped into my mind.” He tossed the door to the side and pulled the woman to the door. She was semi-conscious, but not alert, and gasping for air; she was covered in soot and her arms were burned. He was then met by Firefighter Max Weber from Engine 9, who helped carry her to the street. There, paramedics from a local hospital transported her in serious condition. “He did everything right,” Lt. Cantwell said. “And he was in the right place at the right time. Everything went well.” Firefighter DiGiulo, an 8-year veteran of the FDNY, said this was his first rescue. “It wasn’t until I was outside and took my mask off that I thought, ‘Did this just happen?’” he said. “Every firefighter goes from 0 to 100 [at a fire] and when time finally catches up, it’s incredible.” He said he has received calls from numerous firefighters asking what happened and congratulating him for his great rescue, but, “They all would have done the same thing, getting the credit for it is the hard thing.”

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