7-Year-Old Girl Credited With Saving Neighbor After Calling 911 To Report Riverhead Fire
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Police in Riverhead credit a 7-year-old child with helping save the life of a man trapped in a fire.
The blaze broke out in the kitchen of the first-floor apartment of a two-family home on Middle Road around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.
Landlord Shawn McBurney said the girl, who just moved into the upstairs apartment this week with her family, called 911 and reported the fire, saving her downstairs neighbor.
Police: Girl, 7, Calls 911 To Report Fire That Left Neighbor Injured
"Luckily saved the guy that was living downstairs because otherwise there would've been nobody upstairs and he probably wouldn't have made it," he told 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera.
McBurney said the 30-year-old carpenter was out cold when firefighters pulled him to safety, Rivera reported.
"They found him sleeping or he was unconscious on the couch facedown, so luckily he wasn't breathing as much in that he could've been," McBurney said.
The man, identified by police as Matej Petrak, is now hospitalized with burns and smoke inhalation, Rivera reported.
The girl, her mother and baby sister are OK, but will have to be relocated.
The fire is not considered suspicious.
"It started in the kitchen so I don't know if he left something cooking and fell asleep, because there was a melted pot on top of the stove," McBurney said.
