NEW YORK-- A veteran firefighter's life was saved yesterday by equipment used for the first time since the city issued it to prevent another "Black Sunday" tragedy, officials said.
Raymond Pollard, 51, was trapped on the top floor of a four-story building in Downtown Brooklyn by a fast-moving, three-alarm blaze, officials said.
But Pollard, a 24-year veteran, hooked his new rope - known officially as a "Personal Safety System" - to a window and climbed out. He was rescued moments later.
The brownstone building's roof eventually collapsed.
"Without the [new] equipment, within seconds, he would have been killed up there," said Chief Stephen Raynis of the department's Safety Battalion.
The new gear was introduced to prevent a repetition of the January 2005 tragedy, when two firefighters were forced to jump from a blazing building to avoid the smoke and flames, and were killed.
Republished with permission of The New York Post.
