An advanced fire in an occupied row frame building is one of the most challenging and deadly scenarios that may be encountered by members of the New York City Fire Department. Due to the combustible materials used in their construction and the many hidden voids created by the row frame building technique, firefighters anticipate rapid fire spread--both horizontal and vertical--during operations in these structures. At night, an undiscovered fire that gains headway in a row frame building quickly will become a living nightmare for the sleeping occupants.
      On March 13, 1999, an early-morning fire presented the tenants of 381 Crescent Street with just such a nightmare. It was a cold Saturday morning when Engine 236 received a dispatch ticket for ERS Box 1844 at 0634 hours. The dispatch ticket indicated that the alarm was transmitted from an ERS street box with no further verbal information received by the dispatcher who answered the call. This type of ERS “no contact” alarm typically is a malicious false alarm and generates only a single-engine response.
      However, as Engine 236 pulled down Crescent Street, it became painfully obvious to Lieutenant Gerard Leonard and the members of Engine 236 that this was anything but a false alarm. Fire was in control of the entire first-floor commercial occupancy and rapidly was extending through the balloon-framed walls to the residential apartments on the second and third floors of the three-story building.
      Acting quickly, FFs Scott Frazer, Keith Gross, Steve Razickas, Jim Helfrich and Steven O’Keefe (Engine 290) began hooking up to a hydrant and stretching the initial attack hose-line. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Leonard’s attention became focused on the top floor of the fire building as the screams of a trapped tenant penetrated the stillness of the early morning. Through the thick smoke, Lieutenant Leonard spotted a frantic woman, Ms. Vivien Gonzalez, at the center window on the third floor.
      Realizing that the engine company’s 24-foot ladder would not be able to reach the terrified victim, Lieutenant Leonard decided to attempt a risky interior rescue. After informing his company of his intentions, he entered the burning structure. Racing up the stairway through blinding smoke, the lieutenant quickly reached the top-floor landing and, lacking forcible entry tools, forced the front apartment door open with his shoulder.
     With hidden fire licking up the walls around him and into the cockloft above the ceiling over his head, Lieutenant Leonard, racing against time, crawled blindly over anything and everything in his path as he pushed toward the victim trapped at the front window. Finally reaching the panicked woman, Lieutenant Leonard was surprised to find a second victim suspended outside the window by Ms. Gonzalez--her five-year-old daughter, Tiffany.
     Lieutenant Leonard quickly grabbed the child from the distraught mother and pulled her back inside the window. He could see that Ladder 107 had arrived on the scene and that members below were attempting to maneuver a 35-foot ladder into position.
      Rather than trying to retrace the hellish path he took coming in, Lieutenant Leonard decided to remain with the victims at the window and wait for the members below to position the portable ladder. In a few moments, FF Clint Evans, Ladder 107, appeared on the ladder at the window and Lieutenant Leonard passed young Tiffany into the safety of his arms.
      Ladder 107’s Tower Ladder basket then was placed to the window and Lieutenant Leonard assisted Ms. Gonzalez into it and she was removed to the street. Both Ms. Gonzalez and her daughter were admitted to Jamaica Hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. The fire eventually extended to all three floors of the fire building, as well as to two adjoining buildings, before it was extinguished with a full third-alarm assignment.
      Lieutenant Leonard performed in the finest traditions of the New York City Fire Department. Today, he is being recognized for his heroic actions.--JM