FDNY Insider 6/23/09

The members of Engine 246 and Ladder 169 (L to R) FF Robert Gnerre, FF James Egan, Lt. Richard Eggstein, FF Matt King, Capt. Bill Gallagher, FF Joe Roggenkamp, FF Thomas Curty, FF Gabe Buoninconti, FF Jeremy Hanophy, FF Mike Milazzo (assigned to Engine 245) and FF Dan Saalfrank.
 

Although they say it’s all in a day’s work, there is no doubt that firefighters from Ladder 169 did something extraordinary on June 23, when they rescued two from a late night fire in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

“We did a great job and got really lucky,” said Capt. Bill Gallagher from Ladder 169. “You never want anyone to be in this situation, but when they are, you hope it works out well.”

Firefighters were called to Brighton 3rd Street at 10:43 p.m. for a fire on the top floor of a six-story apartment building.

When the members of Ladder 169 reached the fire apartment, Firefighter Joe Roggenkamp forced open the front door with the Halligan tool. He said he had trouble opening the door, so he reached in and felt the body of a man lying face down on the other side.

He squeezed inside and was able to maneuver the unconscious man around so that Capt. Gallagher and Firefighter Dan Saalfrank could remove him from the apartment. They then passed him off to members of an engine company, who transported him to an awaiting ambulance.

The firefighters continued into the apartment and located the fire in a bedroom.

While Firefighter Saalfrank kept back the flames with an extinguisher as Capt. Gallagher and Firefighter Roggenkamp crawled past the fire into a back bedroom, where they found a semi-conscious woman lying in bed.

They carried her back past the fire to the front door where, again, members of an engine company were able to carry her out.

Capt. Gallagher said the job was complicated by the lack of a hose well in the building, which allows firefighters to feed the hose through a space in the stairwell to upper floors. As a result, firefighters from several engine companies had to snake the hose up the staircase.

The fire was placed under control at 11:09 p.m. Fire marshals determined the cause to be smoking in bed.

Both victims were transported to Staten Island Burn Center with smoke inhalation.

This was the first rescue for both Firefighter Roggenkamp and Saalfrank.

“It’s great when all the training you do pays off,” said Firefighter Roggenkamp. “It feels good as an individual and as a team.”