(Bridgeport-WTNH, Apr. 26, 2005 7:25 PM)
Imagine trying to get out of a house filled with flames. Jumping, not knowing where you'll land.
We give you a first-hand account tonight from one of six firefighters trapped in that scenario.
"Some occupants that were outside were telling us there were people trapped inside," says Lt. Michael Caldaroni, Bridgeport Fire Department.
People were trapped inside a burning home, so Lt. Mike Caldaroni had no choice. He led four of his firefighters from Engine Co. 4 into the blaze. They just reached the 2nd floor when the 1st floor had what's called a flashover.
"A flashover is when something is burning in the room and the other contents in the room reach their ignition point and almost in an instant everything lights on fire instantly."
A second later the fire and smoke raced up the stairs like it was a chimney and came up right behind the firefighters.
Then they had a new problem.
"When we tried to turn the hose over to push the fire back, a kink stopped the water flow and we had to get out of the hallway."
Their only choice was to go out the 2nd floor window and hope for the best.
"We all had to go out one by one, very quickly obviously. We didn't even know there was a roof to land on. We didn't even care."
The house is all boarded up now but you can still see the damage where Lt. Caldaroni missed the roof of the porch and landed right on top of this fence.
Caldaroni spent a day in the hospital with burns on his wrists and face. He was hurt the most of any of his men, but knows it could have been much worse.
"Basically we're lucky to be alive. It was a matter of maybe 20 seconds from the time the first firefighter went out the window to when the last of five firefighters went out of the building."
Content © Copyright 2000 - 2005 WorldNow, WTNH, and Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.