NY Bravest Saves 90-Year-Old Man From Queens House Blaze

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BILL HOFFMANN

Courtesy of New York Post

May 4, 2004 -- A fearless firefighter crawled through a burning Queens house to rescue a frail 90-year-old man who'd fallen out of his wheelchair and was minutes from death.

Thick black smoke was pouring out of the two-story Colonial at 148-11 35th Ave. in Flushing when Ladder 129 arrived at 10 a.m. - and veteran smoke-eater Jim Walther raced into action, smashing down the back door.

"You couldn't see your hand in front of your face the smoke was so thick," Walther, 37, told The Post.

"I began crawling on the floor of the kitchen, feeling in front of me, and I felt a wheelchair and realized someone was in there - somewhere.

"The heat was intense. I went in another 10 feet and found a body lying face-down.

"I pulled him out and down the stairs and saw that he had burns on his face and his breathing was labored, so I took my mask off and increased the oxygen flow and put it over him."

Suddenly, the elderly victim, Dominick Scaperotta, "began choking and went into cardiac arrest - so we began CPR," said Ladder 129 Capt. Pat Lyons, who was assisted by firefighters Louis Capozzi, Fred Hess and Fred Bischoff.

Meanwhile, firefighter Rob Chiolo and a team from Engine 273 extinguished the intense blaze, which gutted the living room and caused heavy smoke damage.

Scaperotta, who lives alone, was rushed to New York Hospital of Queens and later transferred to Jacobi Hospital in The Bronx, where he received hyperbaric oxygen therapy. He was listed in critical but stable condition last night.

Investigators believe the inferno was sparked when an electrical cord under a rug became overheated.

Lyons called the lightning-fast work by Walther, who's a 51/2-year FDNY vet, "an excellent rescue.

"He went into a totally unprotected area without a hose line and with zero visibility. And the victim couldn't have survived in that smoke and heat for much longer."

But Walther - the father of a 3-year-old girl who's expecting his second daughter this July with wife Jennifer - insisted it's all in a day's work.

"This is what I'm trained to do, but it's a little humbling," he said. "I felt like did something that was one of the reasons I took this job - that maybe I could help somebody."

The victim's grandson came to the scene minutes after his grandfather was whisked off by ambulance and emotionally thanked Walther and his fellow heroes for their life-saving actions.