Mass. Firefighter Dropped his Beer, saves a life

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Off-Duty Massachusetts Firefighter Dropped his Beer, Saved a Life

Off-Duty Massachusetts Firefighter Dropped his Beer, Saved a Life

CHRISTINE PHELAN and JACK MINCH,

Lowell Sun (Lowell, MA)

Gene Laferriere was enjoying a beer with buddies at Major's Pub on Jackson Street after playing hockey when a man stormed in, alerting everyone to a fire next door.

"Some guy says it's on the second floor and an old lady lives in there," Laferriere said last night, recounting the charged midnight scene the night before.

The off-duty Fire Department lieutenant rushed over to 14 Jackson St. with other patrons, climbed the stairs to the apartment and used a martial-arts kick to break in the door to Unit 2F.

When the others saw flames and black smoke choking the apartment, they hung back near the door.

"They had all the good intentions in the world," explained Laferriere, who said fires are hard to confront for people not trained to deal with them.

Laferriere is a 17-year veteran who works on Ladder 4 in the West Sixth Street firehouse.

He could see flames in the back of the open room punching through the smoke. Lafferier's friend, Tim Pelletier, gave him a flashlight, but even with that, visibility was only about 6 inches, he said.

Laferriere crouched down in a semi-walk and worked his way down a short hallway alone in blackout conditions.

He found Rose Hawkes in the doorway to a bedroom, lying face-up on the floor.

She was groggy and moaning.

"Much longer, she would have lost consciousness for good, but we got her," he said last evening.

Laferriere dragged Hawkes outside the apartment, then returned to look for more victims.

The building's sprinkler system kicked in and firefighters arrived before he finished his search of the empty apartment.

Afterward, he was nonplused.

"I went out and finished my beer," he said.

Firefighters doused the blaze quickly and Hawkes was taken to Saints Memorial Medical Center with smoke inhalation. She was treated and released, the hospital said.

The fire started from the "careless disposal of smoking materials," said Deputy Patrick McCabe.