NY Firefighters Save Two Trapped by Blaze

July 24 -- SYRACUSE, NY -- Syracuse firefighters saved two people trapped on the second-floor of a Teall Avenue apartment building Monday night, Syracuse Deputy Fire Chief Bob Cussen said.

A neighbor also helped two other tenants out of the burning building, witnesses said.

The frantic 911 calls began around 5:46 p.m. Monday.

Flames spread from a first-floor apartment at 624 Teall Ave. and blocked access to the stairwell, trapping those still on the second floor, Cussen said. Thick black smoke billowed from the apartment as heavy rain poured from the sky.

Before firefighters arrived, first-floor tenant Gary Roe, 51, said he saw his 63-year-old neighbor Joe Barry trying to climb down from the second-floor balcony. Barry, who lives upstairs, said he was trapped, but he was determined to get down.

"The smoke was getting thick and heavy so I went between the bushes and the car to get him down," Roe said. 

Barry carefully climbed down the balcony railing and onto Roe's shoulders, the men said.

Roe said he also knocked on another neighbor's door. Martin Simson, 71, who lives in a first-floor apartment, said he had no idea there was a fire until Roe told him.

"The building is on fire," Roe said he told his neighbor. "Get out."

There were still two people -- a woman and her adult son -- trapped upstairs, Roe said.

But Roe said he could hear the fire trucks.

When they arrived, firefighters quickly spotted the woman and young man on the second-floor balcony. They were yelling for help, said Syracuse District Fire Chief James Farewell.

"They knew they couldn't go down," Farewell said. "It looked like the (young man) was thinking about jumping over onto the roof of a car, which he didn't do."

Firefighters told them to stay on the balcony while they set up a ladder to get them down safely.

Firefighter Chris Walker climbed up the ladder and helped the woman down first, then her son, Farewell said. Both firefighters and witnesses said the woman needed more help than her son getting down the ladder.

Syracuse Fire Lt. Mike Davis and Capt. Tim Barclay stood at the foot of the ladder, and helped the woman and man as they came down the ladder, the district chief said.

No one was injured during the fire.

"The guys did a great job, like they always do," Farewell said of the firefighters.

Fire investigators are still trying to determine how the fire started, Cussen said.

The apartment fire was at the corner of Teall Avenue and Vann Street, just south of Transfiguration Church. The fire appears to have started in Apartment 4, the first-floor apartment on the east side of the building -- farthest from the intersection.

Roe said he was in bed when he smelled smoke Monday evening.

"I looked at the cigarette in my ashtray to see if it re-lit," he said. "lt wasn't that so I got up and came outside."

Firefighters say the fire spread quickly to the second floor and attic.

The only staircase in the apartment complex was on the same side of the building as where the fire started, firefighters said. That's why some tenants couldn't get out.

Firefighters rescued the mother and her adult son about three minutes after they arrived, Cussen said. They extinguished the bulk of the fire in about 10 minutes and had the fire under control in about a half-hour, he said.

At one point early on, firefighters were ordered off the roof as flames engulfed the attic area, he said.

"They called them off the roof so they could get it under control," Cussen said. "It was for the firefighters' safety."

Firefighters also dealt with other obstacles, including driving to the fire in a downpour and battling a fire on a building with a roof that was hard to access because there was an original roof, as well as a roof on top of that, he said.

All eight people who live in the apartment building were able to get out safely and did not require medical attention. Firefighters said one apartment was vacant; the mother and son lived together upstairs; and the other six apartments had one person living in each.

None of the tenants could return home after the fire Monday night, firefighters said.

American Red Cross volunteers said they would help the residents, although they were unable to reach some who quickly left the scene.

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