Freeport firefighter Petros Mestheneas honored for saving 2 comrades
Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro congratulates Lt. Petros Mestheneas after he receives his medal. Second from left is Nassau fire commission chairman Patrick Theodore and at right, Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy. The ceremony was held Wednesday at the Tilles Center in Brookville. Credit: Joseph Sperber
A Freeport firefighter rushed into a burning ambulance repair building last year and pulled two of his comrades to safety as they were running out of air.
Lt. Petros Mestheneas with the Freeport Excelsior Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1 was credited with saving the lives of the two firefighters on April 1, 2023, as 150 firefighters from 26 volunteer departments battled a five-alarm fire.
For his heroism and bravery, Mestheneas, 52, was honored Wednesday with the Nassau County meritorious gold medal of valor.
“These firefighters were literally out of time,” Nassau County Assistant Chief Fire Marshal James Hickman said. “Had they not been located, they would have both ran out of air and it would have ended in a tragedy.”
Mestheneas was honored with other firefighters, EMS workers and civilians as part of the annual Nassau County Firematic Awards for bravery and heroic acts.
Other awards were given for battling fires, aiding choking victims, delivering babies and resuscitating patients in cardiac arrests.
Mestheneas was responding to the Emergency Ambulance Service Inc. garage and offices that housed 38 ambulances on Commercial Drive in Freeport where the fire was reported.
He arrived at the 30,000-square-foot building where the two firefighters had gone searching for anyone inside the building as the fire raged. The two firefighters sent out a “Mayday!” call as they were overcome with smoke and trapped in the building.
“You get a sick feeling when you hear that transmitted,” Mestheneas said before the ceremony Wednesday. “I went in about 30 feet, with smoke to the ground, I put my gear on and my adrenaline was pumping. I got on knees and belly and couldn’t see anything.”
The alarms were sounding on the other two firefighters’ oxygen tanks and they sent out a second "Mayday!” call while other oxygen cylinders in the building were exploding, Hickman said.
“These firefighters were banging on the wall and he followed the sound,” Hickman said. “As the banging became louder, he was able to locate the first firefighter, about 57 feet into the building in a storage room, and the second firefighter in a bathroom. Under worsening conditions, he was able to guide them out of the building.”
Once they reached the doorway, they clutched their oxygen masks to their faces before getting outside, Hickman said. They were taken to Nassau University Medical Center and released that afternoon.
“His act of bravery saved the lives of two fellow firefighters,” Chief Fire Marshal Mike Uttaro said.
With Joseph Sperber
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
