A 3-year-old Massachusetts girl was hailed a “hero” by witnesses after being rescued by firefighters from the top floor of a burning building.
of Wednesday The fire at the Everett apartment building was first spotted that morning by two public works employees who were driving down the street. It’s been found Boston 25 News reported the smoke had cleared.
Watch the video:
Jason Papa and Jesse Winokur rushed to the building on Coroner Avenue at Hancock and Tappan streets about 8 a.m. to alert residents inside.
“We were driving down the street and we saw smoke. I told him to stop the truck. We ran in and started kicking and knocking on the door. We ran inside the apartment to make sure no one was there,” Winokur told the local station.
The two men estimated that there were about 20 people inside the building when they began clearing it.
However, they were unable to reach the room, which was on the third floor of the building.
“The flames were too intense, the smoke was too black. There was no way to save her,” Winocourt said.
Emergency crews from Malden, Chelsea and Everett fire departments responded to the scene.
Papa told the outlet that one of the firefighters endured hot flames and entered the burning apartment to see if anyone was inside.
“After we came out, he came running in, and we said, ‘There might be someone up there. We can’t see her anymore,'” he recalled. “We coaxed him up, he went up, came out a few minutes later, and she wasn’t breathing. He took her and ran down the street.”
Everett Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Hickey said the girl and the firefighter were treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but Hickey said he believes it started on the building’s third floor.
“He went in there and saved her,” Winocour said. “He’s a hero. Thank you to that firefighter. She’s alive because of him.”
It’s unclear how or why the girl ended up left alone in the upstairs apartment, a WCVB reporter said. I got it..
