Port man saves neighbor and dog from house fire

Jessica Parks
Port Washington Fire Department responded to a fire that engulfed 14 New Street last Friday night. (Photo courtesy of the Port Washington Fire Department)

A Port Washington man used a ladder to save a man from a blazing home at 14 New St. on Friday night, fire officials said.

The two-story home was destroyed and the one next door was damaged.

Port Washington firefighters responded to the fire, where occupants were reportedly trapped within the home. 

After arriving on the scene, Port Washington Fire Chief Thomas Golden was told the occupant and his dog had been rescued by a neighbor who used a portable ladder, according to Chris Bollerman, Port Washington Fire Department’s public information officer. 

The man who rescued his neighbor and his dog was Scott Trimarchi, who could not be reached for comment.

Trimarchi told Newsday his neighbor threw the dog out the window and Trimarchi caught it before the man climbed down the ladder.

Everything seemed to move in “slow motion,” he told the newspaper, and “you try not to panic.”

The fire resulted in three nonlife-threatening injuries. One civilian was transported to a local hospital and two firefighters were treated at the scene. 

The occupant who was saved was not identified.

Golden was the first to arrive on the scene, where he was confronted with a two-story home that was nearly fully engulfed in flames, Bollerman said, and the fire’s intensity threatened a second home on the north and several motor vehicles and a garage on the building’s south side.

The home where the fire originated was declared an entire loss and for safety reasons was demolished by the Town of North Hempstead Highway Department. 

Bollerman said a second home was damaged by the fire. 

The fire is currently under investigation by the Nassau County fire marshal. 

The Port Washington Fire Department was alerted to the fire at 6:32 p.m. and all firefighting efforts concluded by midnight, Bollerman said. They were conducted under Golden’s supervision.

Some 150 firefighters from nine departments responded to the fire. Bollerman said approximately 75 of the firefighters were from Port’s fire department.

Two fire departments from Great Neck, Albertson Fire Department, Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department, Plandome Fire Department and Roslyn Fire Department were among those that provided mutual aid to Port Washington. 

The chiefs of the Port Washington Fire Department commended the efforts of the civilian who rescued the occupant from the home and credited him with saving the occupant’s life. 

 

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