Woman rescued from Rotterdam house fire Monday, June 9, 2008 By Jill Bryce (Contact) Gazette Reporter
ROTTERDAM — A woman was rushed to Ellis Hospital early this morning after she was pulled from her burning home at 115 Mercer Ave., according to town police.
Police said they received a call reporting the fire at 3:15 a.m. When Carman, Rotterdam and Stanford Heights firefighters arrived, flames were visible.
Firefighters found the unconscious woman on the first floor of the home and removed her, police said. She has not been identified, and her condition was not available this morning.
The fire remains under investigation, police said.
ROTTERDAM Volunteers’ quick response credited with saving a life Firefighter carried woman out of smoke-filled home BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Dennis Vunk charged into a burning building early Monday morning, much like he had twice before this year. But this time, the second assistant chief with the Carman Volunteer Fire Department came out with something more than a lingering smell of smoke on his turnout gear. This time, he rescued a young woman. Vunk is credited with pulling Corin Reilly from her burning home at 115 Mercer St. after she collapsed from smoke inhalation. He was among dozens of fi refi ghters who responded within minutes of the blaze being reported, which likely saved the 26-yearold woman’s life. “That’s probably what saved my sister-in-law’s life,” said Philipp Wickert, Reilly’s brotherin-law, as he surveyed the damaged home. “Luckily, they got to her when they did.” Fire broke out in a bedroom on the first floor of the home shortly after 3 a.m. Neighbors who reported the fire quickly alerted the arriving rescue crews that someone was trapped inside. Wickert said his sister-in-law was attempting to save her two cats when she was overcome by smoke. Firefighters faced dense smoke on the first floor. “She went out of her bedroom and downstairs to grab her cats,” Wickert said. “That’s when she passed out.” Vunk initially tried to enter from the fi rst floor but was knocked back by heat and smoke. He got into the house through a second-story window while crews trained water on the fire from the fi rst floor. After finding no one in the bedroom, he charged downstairs to find Reilly collapsed on the kitchen floor, unconscious. “I basically scooped her up and got her out of there,” he recalled later. Reilly was whisked to Ellis Hospital, from which she was later airlifted to the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. Family members said her condition was improving Monday and she is expected to make a full recovery. “She’s going to be all right,” Wickert said. However, the cats Reilly had tried to save weren’t as fortunate. Firefighters found her clutching one and another nearby, both dead from smoke inhalation. Wickert said his brother, Joseph Reilly, was purchasing the house from his stepfather and the couple had many of their belongings stored in the garage, which wasn’t burned. He said his brother was in Maine for job training when the fire broke out. Fire Chief David Galka said the blaze was determined to be accidental and electrical in origin. He offered praise for his crews for acting promptly to save both Reilly and the house. “That’s what we train for,” he said. “You get a group together, everything meshes and you get the job done.” Galka said Reilly’s narrow escape from the fire also shows how imperative it is to leave a burning structure as quickly as possible. The woman had apparently called a 911 dispatcher when the fire started, but either stayed in the house or returned to get her cats. “Most of all, never go back in,” he said. Vunk, a veteran firefighter of 20 years, was modest about his rescue, which is the first that fi re officials could recall in their district. Instead, he heaped praise on his fellow fi refighters, who he said deserve praise. “I’m no hero,” he said. “It was a team effort and everybody did their job.” PETER R. BARBER/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER Firefighters work on the roof of a home on Mercer Avenue in Rotterdam after flames broke out early Monday.
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