At Least 20 Firefighters Injured, 3 Seriously, in Multi-Alarm Staten Island House Fire
At least 20 New York firefighters have been injured after responding to a house fire on Friday.
Three of them are in serious but stable condition, New York Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said. At least 17 others suffered minor injuries.
FDNY said the call for help arrived at 1:30 p.m. at a home at 88 Shotwell Avenue. Units arrived in four minutes and found heavy smoke and fire.
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New York Fire Chief of Department John Hodgens said the fire started in between two buildings in the rear and then quickly spread to both structures.
Two firefighters became trapped when heavy winds caused the building's windows to fail, allowing the wind to blow the fire intensely into the building.
New York City Fire Department
One of the firefighters was able to make their way to a second-floor balcony where they jumped to the driveway. The other firefighter sent out a mayday signal.
Squad Company 8 arrived and quickly rescued the trapped firefighter, Hodgens said.
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According to Hodgens, the nozzle man of one of the responding engines was hit in the head by falling debris which knocked his facepiece off, allowing him to inhale smoke.
New York City Fire Department
All three of the seriously injured firefighters are expected to survive, according to NBC New York. Doctors told the outlet they were alert and "cracking jokes."
One man inside the home escaped with no injury, NBC New York reported.
"I cannot emphasize enough that this was a very close call for the FDNY," Commissioner Kavanagh added of the near-fatal fire. "We could have lost three members today."
