NYPD officers carry out residents trapped in burning building in Chinatown: Video
CHINATOWN, Manhattan (WABC) -- Police body cameras are providing a dramatic look at NYPD officers taking heroic action to rescue several residents from a burning building in Chinatown last week.
The urgent rescue played out when four NYPD officers rushed in and carried out three victims, in their 90s, to safety.
"And there's 20 to 30,000 cops that would have jumped and did exactly the same thing we did, cause we all have families," said Sgt. Jeremy Banfield of NYPD Crime Control Strategies.
The four members of the NYPD's 5th Precinct in Chinatown include three sergeants and one community affairs detective. Together they share 59 years of service, and together they led a charge across the street to rescue their neighbors from a fast-moving fire.
It started when an officer burst into the stationhouse, with critical news.
"She said, 'Sarge, the building is on fire. The building across the street is on fire,' so we grabbed fire extinguishers and we're like 'all right maybe we could handle this,'" Sgt. Billy D'Ottavio said.
But then they saw smoke building inside the ground floor tea parlor.
"I put my hand on the glass. I look and see pitch black smoke inside, it's hot, and I'm like this is hot, this is going to something else, soon," said NYPD Detective Rodney Rosado.
"And at that point he said, 'listen it's hot and there's a lot of people upstairs, we have to get them out.' And that's what we did," Banfield said.
Sgt. Willian Finan said they ran up to the sixth floor and worked from top to bottom.
"As we made our way through the building there were several residents of the building helping us out," he said. "And they alerted us to the fact that there were elderly people needing our help."
Since 1881, the 5th Precinct stationhouse has stood on Elizabeth Street, serving a Chinatown neighborhood notorious for its tight streets and tight living conditions. In fact, the conditions actually worked in everyone's favor when the fire broke out last week. Officers were just steps away when seconds counted.
"A second can be the difference between life and death especially in a fire," D'Ottavio said. "You inhale too much smoke, that one extra second of smoke inhalation could kill someone. So, we knew that we had to work fast. So, getting this done as quickly and safely as possible."
They hoisted three people in their 90s, including one person who was 99 years old, down the stairs, and into the warm stationhouse for triage as the fire spread, and the smoke started to thicken.
In the end, everyone survived. There were no serious injuries.
This holiday season, the veteran officers have reason to be thankful that they and their teams were in the right place at the right time.
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