Nick Caito wears several hats -- full-time Glassport police officer, part-time Liberty borough police officer, volunteer Glassport firefighter -- but late Friday he added "lifesaver" to the list.
Officer Caito and Glassport firefighter Ricky Vasquez broke down the front door of a burning house at 305 Ohio Ave. in Glassport shortly after 11 p.m., entered the smoke-filled home and rescued a woman from the second floor where she had been sleeping.
"When we got in there we yelled, 'Anybody here?' as we began climbing the steps and she said, 'Up here! Up here!' When we got there she said, 'I'm almost ready.' She was getting dressed because she had been sleeping. I said, 'You're ready right now. Let's go!'" said Officer Caito.
Mr. Vasquez guided the woman down the steps and Officer Caito, using his flashlight, checked the second floor to make certain no one else was inside and then escaped the home down the stairs.
"Another minute and a half and I would have been trying to get out a window instead," he said. "The smoke was horrendous. I held my breath, ran down the steps and ran out."
The fire was an arson, Officer Caito said, and police have identified a person of interest.
The incident began when Officer Caito, who was working for Liberty Borough Friday night, stopped at his Glassport home to let out his dog. He looked down the street and could see what appeared to be a campfire in a back yard.
Just then, a radio dispatch reported a fire in the rear of 305 Ohio Ave., so Officer Caito went to the rear street, Plum Alley, and saw the entire back porch was on fire and spreading upward and next door to the siding of 303 Ohio.
He ran to the front of the house where he encountered Mr. Vasquez, who because he lives nearby and hadn't yet made it to the fire station wasn't wearing firefighter turnout gear but instead had on shorts and a cutoff T-shirt.
They bolted for the door and after several attempts to break it in failed, Officer Caito used his flashlight to break the door's window. In the process he cut his hand. Mr. Vasquez then was able to knock down the door.
"It was like opening up a pre-heated oven. There was a lot of smoke," Officer Caito said.
The woman, who said she had been sick, had been sleeping since 9 p.m. and was only awakened by the men pounding on her door.
Firefighters quickly arrived and the fire was brought under control within a half hour. They helped rescue a couple and two dogs from 303 Ohio and a woman and a dog from 307 Ohio. One of two cats inside 305 Ohio died from smoke inhalation.
Damage to the rear and roof of 305 Ohio was extensive. Also damaged was the side of 303, Officer Caito said.
Today, Officer Caito -- now wearing his hat as Glassport police officer and a dressing on his cut hand -- and Mr. Vasquez revisited the fire scene and viewed the charred house.
"I can't believe we were in there," Officer Caito said to Mr. Vasquez.
But, Officer Caito added, "You don't think about that. The adrenaline rushes and you do what you got to do."
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
