Syracuse, NY – A woman apparently jumped out of a window to escape a house fire on the North Side Friday morning, according to firefighters and a witness.
The fire was reported at 9:17 a.m. on Fourth North Street, between Wolf Street and LeMoyne Avenue.
Firefighters arrived three minutes later and found the fire on the first floor of the wooden two-story home, according to Executive Deputy Chief Elton Davis. Smoke detectors went off.
One person “self-evacuated,” Davis said.
According to the witness, it appeared that the woman had jumped out of the window.
Anthony Chiricio drove by the house and saw flames coming from an upper window and a woman lying in the yard. He said it looked like she had both ankles broken and was unconscious.
Rick Macheda happened to be driving by when he noticed a large plume of smoke coming from the house.
Macheda, to the Cazenovia Fire Department and an EMT with 40 years of experience arrived on scene at the same time as a Syracuse police officer.
When the two noticed the woman lying on the ground, they immediately sprung into action.
“I carry my own medical bag in the car that I grabbed,” he told syracuse.com. “I checked for a pulse, there was none. The Syracuse police officer and I started CPR on the lady as soon as the first fire truck got there.”
After Macheda and paramedics performed CPR on the woman for about 10 minutes, she was taken away in an ambulance. Before Macheda left the scene, a firefighter told him the EMT had a pulse back.
“I’ve been doing this for many years,” he said. “And I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
The woman was taken by AMR to a local hospital, the chief said. He didn’t know her condition.
It took firefighters about 50 minutes to extinguish the fire. No cause has been determined, Davis said.
One firefighter was injured in a fall while conducting a “revision operation” to ensure the fire was fully extinguished, officials said.
This is a breaking story. It will be updated.
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