Fire Hero Helps Put Out Flames At Kennedy Road Complex
Posted May 22, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Picture this: you’re working outside when you see smoke coming from a nearby apartment building. Would you know what to do? Calling 911 is easy. But would you actually go inside the complex where the fire was burning and pull out a hose to douse the flames yourself? Most of us probably wouldn’t go that far. But then most us aren’t Joseph Cilardi. The Toronto contractor was on the job near the scene of a blaze around 9am Tuesday, when he spotted the telltale signs that something was wrong in a Kennedy and Eglinton building and sprung into action. He and the building superintendent ran into the teeth of the blackness, despite the obvious threat to their own safety.
“I was just doing my job. And I turned around and saw black smoke,” he remembers. “And I thought this is not right. Had the beacon on my truck, did a U-turn, flagged down the first police officer I saw. As I was running in, I informed the other police officer, and said make sure everybody is out. And I went upstairs right to the fourth floor, made sure the door was not hot, no smoke coming out and had the fire hose from the apartment and fired down the ceiling of the apartment and kept the fire back until the fire department came.”
P.C. Alex Greto was doing what he was trained to do, banging on doors to get tenants out of the building. “It was great to hear that nobody succumbed to any injuries or there weren’t any injuries, and that’s an added bonus, that’s for sure,” he maintains.
Cilardi’s bravery was even more amazing because, as he admits, the choking black smoke was so thick he couldn’t really see anything. But he refuses to say he did anything special. “Human basic instincts,” he relates. “Just to make sure everybody’s okay.” But some believe his efforts and those of the others at the scene deserve recognition. All three have been nominated for bravery citations.
Cops admit they admire the contractor’s swift action, but don’t think it was all that wise. “The citizen went in and actually began fighting the fire himself with the hose in the hallway which sometimes can be dangerous,” warns Sgt. David Ecklund. “We don’t obviously advise that, but that this was this gentleman’s prerogative and luckily there were no injuries involved in the fire.”
The blaze started in a fourth-floor dining room and quickly spread to the balcony. Damage is estimated at $15,000.
Would you know what to do in the event of a fire in your apartment building? Find out how to prepare before, during and after.
