Wheelchair-bound Monticello man rescued from fire

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Wheelchair-bound Monticello man rescued from fire

By Heather Yakin

Times Herald-Record

December 23, 2006

Monticello — Charlie Tate's guardian angels wore dark blue uniforms. They carried radios on their belts. And when disaster struck at Tate's place at Liberty Street Apartments in Monticello, an ambulance served as their chariot.

Just after 8 a.m. yesterday, a burning candle on Tate's nightstand fell over. In a split second, the wooden table caught fire.

Tate, who uses a wheelchair, pushed his medical alert button to signal an emergency to an alarm company.

He tried to wheel himself out of the apartment, but ended up on the floor, the wheelchair wedged in the narrow hallway, as smoke billowed above him.

Meanwhile, Sullivan County E-911 sent Mobile Medic paramedic Svetlana Egorova and EMT Jason Welton to the emergency call at Tate's address.

"When we got there, we saw the smoke coming out of the top of the door," Welton said.

"We could hear him screaming," Egorova said. "He was screaming for help."

Welton kicked in the door and crawled into the apartment, feeling his way through black smoke that filled the rooms to within a few inches of the floor.

"You couldn't see a foot in front of you," Egorova said. "It was thick, thick, thick."

She radioed for fire assistance, and kept talking so Welton could find the way back out.

Twice he had to retreat outside to catch his breath, but then he went back in.

The third time in, Welton found Tate. He wrestled with the wedged wheelchair and dragged Tate toward the door.

But the smoke was too much. Welton had to get back outside to fresh air.

Egorova went in and pulled Tate outdoors. Then she and Welton dragged him away from the building.

By now, the fire department had arrived, and quickly put out the fire. Assistant fire Chief Mark Friedland said it damaged the nightstand, and little more.

The EMTs took Tate to Catskill Regional Medical Center in Harris, where he was treated for smoke inhalation. Then they went back to work, to finish out their 11-hour shift.

"I'm very proud of them," said Mobile Medic CEO Albee Bockman. "They did a wonderful thing."

Later, outside the apartment, people gathered around Tate's charred nightstand.

One of them was Mattie Anderson, executive director of the Monticello Housing Authority, which runs Liberty Street Apartments. She said Tate was still at the hospital, and that his relatives were there with him.

"He's a fortunate man," Anderson said.