Man credited with averting fire

DANIEL TEPFER dtepfer@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 02/22/2008 05:35:56 PM EST

BRIDGEPORT — An East Side apartment house manager is being called a hero today after he pushed a burning plow truck away from the complex.

"There is no question his quick thinking prevented serious damage to the building," said Assistant Fire Chief Dominick Carfi. "Many people would have panicked in his situation."

The three-story apartment complex at 42 Dean Place suffered minor exterior damage from the blaze. The Ford pickup truck was completely burned out.

There were no injuries and apartment residents were evacuated safely, Carfi said.

The apartments' manager, Rocco Guarnieri, was using the pickup to plow the day's snowfall from the parking lot behind and under the U-shaped building about 2 p.m. when he began to smell smoke.

"There was smoke coming up from underneath the vehicle toward the engine and then it just stopped," he said. "I got out just before it burst into fire."

Guarnieri ran to another truck he had parked in the lot and used it to "ram" the burning pickup out from beneath the building and into a snow bank as the flames began to consume the vehicle.

As it was, flames had already begun to lick up the sides of the structure, melting the vinyl siding.

Guarnieri said he tried to extinguish the flames with a fire extinguisher, but it didn't help much.

However, firefighters arriving on the scene quickly managed to douse both the flames on the building's exterior and the burning truck.

"Our guys did a great job of getting here quickly despite the weather conditions and kept the fire from spreading through the structure," said Carfi.

Apartment residents, who huddled in the small lobby of the building, were allowed to return to their apartments after about 15 minutes.