Volunteer firefighters honored for pulling woman out of Roosevelt blaze

Baldwin Volunteer Fire Department Lt. Joe Brown was on his way to work as a Town of Hempstead sanitation supervisor on Nov. 4 when he heard the call for a massive house fire on East Raymond Avenue in Roosevelt. 

Brown, realizing the fire was on his route, quickly responded to the scene in his Sanitation Department truck and gear, helping Freeport Third Assistant Fire Department Chief Anthony Sotira and other first responders in the daring rescue of an 82-year-old woman trapped inside her bedroom.

The woman, who was removed from the home after first responders used a sledgehammer to smash through the wall of the home, later succumbed to her injuries.

On Monday, members of the Nassau County Legislature honored Brown, Sotira and members of the Nassau County Police Department for their heroism.

"It's what we do," Brown, whose father and brother are former Freeport Fire Department chiefs, said before the Mineola ceremony. "This is what we do every day … I've been doing this 35 years. I guess it's in the family."

Sotira arrived at the scene shortly before 9 a.m. and learned there was a woman, later identified as Mattie Jackson, trapped inside a corner bedroom, desperately screaming for help.

The assistant chief observed dense black smoke coming from the windows where Jackson was trapped and both the front and side doors were consumed by fire, making entry impossible, according to Raymond Maguire, executive director of the Freeport Fire Department.

With no engines or ladder companies yet on the scene, Sotira tried to enter the home using a ladder provided by Nassau police but was not able to reach through a window, officials said.

Faced with intense heat and zero visibility, Sotira grabbed the windowsill and pulled himself inside, leaning headfirst toward the floor and using his leg to hook the window frame to prevent him from falling into the room, officials said. Unable to reach the floor, Sotira came out of the window and directed police to find a garden hose to cool the window while he attempted to enter again.

With Brown holding his legs, Sotira again searched through the heat and smoke but was still unable to reach the floor. With conditions worsening, they backed out of the window to regroup, Maguire said.

Looking for a better way to enter the home, Sotira, Brown and police officers used a Halligan dynamic entry breaching sledge to breach the exterior wall of the room, even as their entry was obstructed by a stud in the wall.

Brown, who sustained cuts to his hands, said he and Sotira were able to reach into the home, grabbing the victim's leg and pulling the unconscious woman through the hole in the wall and onto a waiting stretcher.

Moments later, Sotira, who declined to be interviewed Monday, went back into the home searching for additional victims.

The only other occupant, a 79-year-old resident, had already exited the home, suffering minor smoke inhalation, they later learned.

Jackson was taken to Nassau University Medical Center, where she died from her injuries three days later, said Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro.

"At least [she had] a couple more days with her family to be able to say goodbye," Maguire said. "So we're very proud of what they did. Obviously, we would like the result to be better but they did everything they could. They gave her every chance that she had to live."

Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy said Brown and the other first responders "literally opened up the side of the wall to pull somebody out of the home. He was a great asset to the entire community."

The fire's cause appeared to be accidental and linked to an electrical issue, Uttaro said.

Nassau lawmakers Monday also honored a pair of Sixth Precinct officers who arrested three men responsible for an armed gas station robbery, along with county detectives who arrested a man charged with assaulting a 14-year-old on a bicycle in Merrick.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.