Saugus Captains Thomas Nolan, Donald Shea and Firefighters William Cross and Jeffrey Moses
An off-duty firefighter noticed the smoke and attempted the rescue of a woman as another member performing inspection arrived. Crews arrived to successfully free the woman from the raging fire.
Last spring, Saugus, Mass. firefighters responded to a raging fire and were able to rescue a disabled woman, along with one of their own.
Capt. Thomas Nolan was first on the scene and went in for the woman. As conditions worsened, he became trapped. His heroics, as well as those of his fellow firefighters, led him and the woman to safety.
In honor of their actions, the Saugus Fire Department and the firefighters involved were awarded with the second place heroism award, top honors and a unit citation by Firehouse Magazine.
The initial alarm was raised by off-duty Firefighter Jeff Moses, who spotted the smoke while cutting grass at a nearby home.
Nolan was busy doing inspections in the area and was wearing a uniform shirt and tie, but no protective gear. While in his official car, he heard the call on the scanner and ran into the house after neighbors told him a disabled woman with no legs lived on the second floor.
He said the smoke become thick and in the second bedroom, he found the woman in the recliner and pulled her while she was still in the chair. The conditions forced him to retreat with the woman back in the room. At that point he sounded a Mayday and search for the window.
"It was the most stressful situation I've ever been involved in," Nolan said. "It got pretty hot in there for a few minutes."
While he was trapped in the room, Nolan and the woman spoke to each other.
"She's was a very religious woman," he said. "She kept yelling 'Oh Lord, Oh Lord.' I said, 'Don't worry, my brothers are coming.' She said 'Leave me.' I told her, 'I won't leave you.'"
Captain Donald Shea and other firefighters soon arrived on scene to assist Nolan.
"This one started out like most do," Shea said of the fire. "You respond to something and you think you can handle quickly ... When we got there knew we'd had our hands full"
Chief James Blanchard said the conditions were about as bad as they get.
"It was the only fire I've been to in my life where civilians watching were actually yelling to the firefighters to jump, that's how dramatic it was," he said.
A few seconds after Shea arrived on the scene, a Mayday was sounded; Nolan was trapped.
Shea said he saw Captain Nolan in his white shirt from the second floor window down an alleyway. He grabbed a ladder and had bystanders help him carry it down the alley. By this time, Shea said the fire was consuming the second floor.
He said that while he was on the ladder, other firefighters were working hard to contain the flames and keep them away from Nolan and the woman as long as they could.
"If it wasn't for those lines, I don't think we could've gotten them in time," Shea said.
Firefighter William Cross operates a landscaping business with a fellow firefighter and spotted the fire while working in the area.
He was in shorts and t-shirt and approached the scene as soon as he saw the smoke.
"When I got there it was just chaos," he said. "The wind was probably blowing 30 to 40 miles an hour."
Cross saw Capt. Nolan break out a window and when Shea -- standing on the ladder -- spotted him, he told him to get up next to him on a second ladder.
Shea then directed Cross to go through the window and help the woman out of the room.
Blanchard said the firefighters had to roll the woman over the window sill and that Shea carried the woman down.
"It was tough, he muscled her down while the others came behind him," he said. "They just did a phenomenal job."
Blanchard said the woman, who had no legs, most likely weighed close to 250 pounds.
When Shea carried the woman down, he said most of her weight was on the ladder. Once they were off the ladder, he used all of him might to carry her until he was assisted by other crew members.
"Captain Shea should be commended," Cross said. "He had the toughest job of all. He's probably one of the thinnest guys on the department, but he was strong in stature that day."
Nolan was helped out of the building and was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where he was treated for smoke inhalation and carbon-monoxide poisoning.
"I actually checked myself out late at night because I couldn't stand being there," he said.
Nolan said he returned to work the following week. "I tried to come in earlier but they sent me home.
"It's the most dangerous situation I've been in. The biggest thing was how I was going to get her out."
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