New York firefighter aids pilot after Arizona crash
Firefighter Thomas Conforti poses at Ladder Co. 129. While on vacation last Thursday in Sedona, AZ he rescued the pilot of a plane which had crashed, killing the pilot's two uncles. Conforti lives in Huntington Station with his wife and two young children. (Newsday Photo/ Ari Mintz / November 17, 2008)
FDNY firefighter Thomas Conforti was
celebrating his fifth wedding anniversary with
his wife in Arizona when he had to spring into
action to help someone in need.
Conforti, 30, of Huntington Station, rushed to
Rockney Herring's rescue after the 1967 Piper
Cherokee Herring was piloting suffered engine
problems and crashed shortly after takeoff near
the vacation town of Sedona, Ariz., authorities
said.
The crash Thursday evening killed two of
Herring's cousins, who along with Herring had
been on a sightseeing trip and had just taken
off for a return flight to Phoenix, local police
said. Herring, 51, of Texas, was able to crawl
about 60 feet from the wreckage before Conforti
found him.
Herring is in a Phoenix hospital recovering from
severe burns over much of his body.
"I have nothing but
admiration for the guy," Coconino County
sheriff's spokesman Gerry Blair said of Conforti.
"Whether he saved the guy's life, I cannot say,
but he went above and beyond what a normal
person or even an off-duty firefighter would
have done."
Conforti was on vacation with his wife, Jessica,
for their wedding anniversary and the two were
riding an all-terrain vehicle along dirt roads
about 10 minutes outside of Sedona when they
heard an explosion and saw plumes of smoke a few
miles in the distance.
"It sounds almost ridiculous, but the instincts
set in," said Conforti, a five-year FDNY veteran
who is stationed with Ladder Company 129 in
Flushing. "I did what I could do."
Herring, who was on the phone with a 911
operator, had torn off his shirt and was huddled
under a tree, his burned body covered in dirt
and pine needles from the crawl, Conforti said.
"The guy was freezing. ... There was no doubt in
my mind that shock was setting in," Conforti
said. "I just wanted to keep him talking and
alert."
Conforti gave Herring the T-shirt he was
wearing, and took over the phone. He directed
rescue crews to his location about
three-quarters of a mile off the main road while
helping to move Herring to medics who took over,
flying Herring to a hospital in Flagstaff and
then on to a burn unit in Phoenix, police said.
"Even after police arrived, he stayed around for
more than an hour, and did what he could to
help," Blair said.
Conforti tried to visit Herring before returning
from vacation, but he was in surgery. Conforti
has kept in contact with family members who say
Herring is in a medically induced coma, but
expected to recover.
"He was in bad shape, but he was a fighter,"
Conforti said. "There was no doubt about it,
this guy wanted to live and I just had to keep
him going."