An off-duty member of the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) saved a young girl Sunday from a house fire in Brooklyn using a garden hose.
“I was just coming home from work, I had just parked my car and noticed heavy black smoke coming from a house on the block,” 33-year-old firefighter Stefon Douglas said, according to an Instagram post shared Tuesday by the FDNY. “Occupants were self-evacuating from the house, but they indicated that someone might still be inside.”
FDNY Firefighter Stefon Douglas was able to rescue a young child from a fire in Brooklyn this past weekend. Read more: https://t.co/PP4V7oPhbj pic.twitter.com/vw5yokYzqm
— FDNY (@FDNY) June 7, 2022
After reportedly getting some gear from his vehicle that he had earlier used as props in a school’s career day, he attempted to enter the front of the house, where he was met with heavy smoke, Douglas said in the Instagram post. “There was no way I would be able to enter that way safely,” he stated. (RELATED: New York Senate Votes To Make Bullet-Proof Vests Illegal)
“I was just in a T-shirt, had shorts on and Crocs, and the heat was just way too much and the house was way too big to try to perform a search,” he told the New York Post on Tuesday.
Douglas then said he ran to the back of the house, where he reportedly found someone trying to put out the fire with a garden hose, according to the statement posted on the FDNY’s Instagram. He apparently took charge of the hose and managed to extinguish “pockets of fire.”
He entered the house after hearing “whimpering” from inside, Douglas said in the post. The noise led him into the bathroom, where he found a three-year-old girl, who he safely carried to first responders.
Though the girl was initially in critical condition, authorities stated that she is recovering and will survive, according to the NYP. Her 31-year-old mother, who was also hospitalized after being rescued from the fire, did not make it, ABC 7 New York reported.