When Suffolk County Police Officer Christopher Germano arrived at the scene of a house fire early Friday morning, his instincts as hero kicked in immediately. Officer Germano responded to the call at 6:37 AM, and upon arriving at the Bay Shore home located in 34 Wisconsin Avenue, he realized that he would need to act quickly - the entire second floor was already engulfed in flames. He quickly obtained a ladder from a neighboring home, and selflessly scaled it to enter the home, and rescue the residents that were trapped inside.
Inside the home were several adults, teenagers, and young children. One of the adults inside handed Germano a 3-year-old child, which the Offficer was able to bring down the ladder to safety. After ensuring that the young child was now out of harm's way, Germano ran into the first floor and urged the occupants in the home to leave.
The biggest difficulty that Officer Germano was faced with was the inability to access the home's main staircase which connected the first and second floor, which had already been swallowed by flames by the time he had arrived on the scene. One of residents informed the officer that they had pull down ladder that was used to gain access to home’s second floor, however, it had been boarded up, and was inaccessible. Upon hearing this, Germano sprung into action, running into the kitchen, and utilizing a knife he found to cut through the wood surrounding the pull down ladder. Germano's quick thinking enabled him to access the ladder, and subsequently the second floor of the home, where he saved a 35-year-old woman and her 12-year-old son that had been trapped.
Eventually, the Brentwood Fire Department was able to extinguish the fire, but only after Germano rescued the last of the home's residents. Officer Germano suffered from smoke inhalation, and was sent to Southside Hospital where he was treated, and promptly released. A 62-year-old resident was also transported to the hospital by Brentwood Legion Ambulance for burns he incurred during the fire.
Suffolk County Police Arson Section detectives are continuing the investigation as to how the Bay Shore home was set ablaze.
[Source: Suffolk County Police]