“Without any proper gear or back-up, an off-duty township firefighter ran inside a burning house in North Middletown to rescue a senior resident trapped inside.
A call came in to the fire department in the morning hours of Jan. 29 for a reported dryer fire, according to John Waltz, first assistant fire chief. As the first chief on the scene, he said he found smoke coming from the garage of the home at 50 Warren Place which was ‘starting to get pretty thick’ upon his arrival.
‘I noticed there was a civilian – who I thought was civilian – leading a female out of the garage area of the house. Come to find out later on, it was in fact a Middletown Township fireman who was in civilian clothes,’ said Waltz.
That ‘civilian’ turned out to be Matt Deickmann, a volunteer with the Belford Engine Co. and a full-time detective with the Union Beach Police Department. He came upon the fire after he heard the radio trans- missions and went to the scene directly. When he arrived, he went right inside the house and observed the smoke condition. He found the utility room was on fire, Waltz said.
‘He saw the woman trying to put the fire out,’ he said, ‘and got her out safely – without any gear, an air pack, anything.’
The resident was not injured. She was evaluated by emergency medical staff but was not transported to the hospital, Waltz added. However, her house remains uninhabitable due to damage to the garage and utility area, and minor damage to the kitchen and two bedrooms upstairs. There is smoke damage throughout the home.
View the whole story here: https://tworivertimes.com/middletown-firefighter-rescues-woman-trapped-in-blaze/