FDNY Lieutenant Saves 3-Week-Old Boy From Burning Building In Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- One of New York's Bravest lived up to the name, fighting his way through smoke and flames to rescue a 3-week-old baby boy from a burning home in Queens.
The fire broke out around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at a two-story home on 106th Street in Corona.
Fire victim Therin Pressley said he was home watching television when suddenly someone yelled "fire."
"It was horrible, it was crazy, it was ridiculous," Pressley told CBS2's Diane Macedo. "It looked like the ceiling was burning... I was trying to put out the fire, I was running back upstairs trying to throw water on it and then my sister screamed that the baby was in the attic."
But the water only made things worse.
"I was trying to get to that baby upstairs, and then also too as well I was running down the stairs. I kept falling down the stairs because the stairs were wet from me running up with a bucket. It was horrible," he told CBS2's Diane Macedo.
Pressley said he tried everything get to the baby.
"I tried to grab the door knob and my hand got blistered," Pressley said. "This whole side of my neck, I got caught on fire."
Luckily some of the residents had already called 911.
Lt. Adam Vilagos, who is the nephew of FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, arrived at the scene to the screams of a mother and father, who were yelling that their baby boy was trapped in the attic.
"They were screaming in the street, 'My baby's in the attic,'" Vilagos said.
The 18-year FDNY veteran said he knew what he had to do, and that he had little time to do it.
"Obviously we had to get in there quick and get the kid out," Vilagos told WCBS 880.
He raced into the house, up the stairs and through the flames, making his way into the smoke-filled attic bedroom, where he heard the baby's cries and bumped into the child's crib.
"There was a lot of fire, a lot of smoke, zero visibility and I was just trying to find the door to get up there and get the child if I could," Vilagos told 1010 WINS. "I searched around a little bit, and I wound up feeling the baby's legs. I shined my light really close to the baby and I just grabbed him, picked him up."
The infant was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he is in stable condition.
The fire department says thanks to the family's quick call to 911 and the actions of Vilagos, the baby is expected to survive.
"That baby was born into this world innocent and he deserves a chance," Pressley said.
The fire department said the baby boy is expected to be okay and no one else in the house was seriously injured.
Nigro said he is proud of his nephew.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but investigators have ruled out anything suspicious.
