TROY, N.Y. - A Troy Police Officer came to the rescue of an elderly handicapped woman who became trapped inside her burning home Tuesday morning.
Around 10:30 a.m. police in Troy became aware of a structure fire at 334 Fourth Avenue in Troy with an individual trapped on the second floor. Troy Police Officer Walter Tague was a few blocks from the address and also called in a visible smoke condition he saw prior to his arrival at the scene.
Upon arrival, Officer Tague spoke with a resident, Marlene Chiccarelli, who told him her mother, an 80-year-old non-ambulatory woman, was trapped on the second floor.
Troy Police Captain John Cooney says it was at this time Officer Tague took it upon himself to enter the home despite the potentially lethal heavy smoke condition.
Tague entered the ground floor hallway, fighting through the wall of smoke to reach the second floor where he located the potential victim at the door, quickly realizing that the only option that existed was to carry the woman to safety.
Cooney says he did just that, carrying the woman down a full flight of stairs outside to the hands of the Troy Fire Department and EMS.
"We are extremely grateful," Chiccarelli tells NEWS10. "We thank God and we thank the man that was on the scene. We are just blessed that everybody is okay."
No serious injuries were sustained to any of the persons involved in this heroic act, Cooney says.
The investigation into how the fire started is continuing, but fire officials do not believe it is suspicious.
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