By Nicole Falco
While time seemed to drag for most waiting in the dark for electricity, it was a frantic race against time for residents of a Wood Lane home that was ablaze, as well as for their anxious neighbors and members of the Valley Stream Fire Department.
Within two hours, the fire that threatened the lives of a Valley Stream mother, her three children and her disabled father-in-law was extinguished, and the family and responding firefighters were safe and uninjured.
According to an account provided by the VSFD, off-duty Firefighter Steven Weltner of Engine Co. 3 was driving home from shopping with his 3-year-old son when he saw Lt. Thomas Vella, also of Co. 3, driving his own car, with emergency lights flashing, to a burning house on Wood Lane.
Weltner's instincts kicked in, and he pulled over to help. Neighbors told the firefighters that a disabled man was trapped in a bedroom in the rear of the home, at 41 Wood Lane. He was also told that a mother and her three children might also be trapped. Weltner asked the neighbors to watch his son while he and Vella raced to the victims' aid.
Vella, a VSFD lieutenant, had happened upon the scene while en route to report for duty at Engine Co. 3 on Cochran Avenue. A neighbor had waved him down and reported the fire to him. "'Are you a fireman?'" Vella said the young man asked. "'There's a house on fire around the block.' I asked him, 'Are you sure?' and he said yes. I told him to climb into my truck and I alerted the guys. I pulled out [to Wood Lane] with him in my truck."
Vella alerted the Valley Stream Fire Department, and Engine Co. 3, under the command of Captain Walter Weltner Jr., Steven's brother, was the first company to respond. Engine Co. 3 was on the scene even before fire command issued the alert.
"As soon as we turned onto Wood from Cochran we could see the street was lit up as clear as day, especially since it was so dark," Walter Weltner said. "I would say it was not even a minute before we were there."
Already back on Wood Lane, Vella and Steven Weltner located the bedroom where the disabled man was trapped. "Somebody's in there! Somebody's in there!" someone shouted to Vella, a 19-year department veteran.
Neighbors had come to the man's aid and were attempting to remove him through a window. Realizing the neighbors' efforts might not work, Steven Weltner entered the bedroom through another window while Vella attempted to gain access to the bedroom through a rear door that seemed to be blocked. Neither man had the benefit of protective equipment or a hose. "I was wearing flip-flops, a bathing suit and a tank top," said Weltner, a 13-year veteran. "I didn't really have a plan to go in. I thought [the firefighters] would be able to get in through the back door."
Once inside, Weltner crawled across the bedroom floor to close the bedroom door in order to temporarily hold off the fire raging in an adjacent room and to reduce the smoke and heat in the bedroom.
When Weltner had entered the burning home and Vella was attempting to break through the blocked door, Engine Co. 3 arrived. Firefighter Michael Velte, who has three years as a volunteer, immediately raced to the back of the house to aid in the rescue, and was soon joined by Walter Weltner. Weltner, Velte and Vella entered the bedroom by forcing open the back door, which had been blocked by home furnishings.
Velte, the smallest of the three, had managed to squeeze through the narrow opening, and began removing items that had been blocking the unused exit. Vella also began moving boxes. Steven Weltner and Velte carried the man through the rear to safety with Walter Weltner's and Vella's assistance. The firefighters treated the man at the scene.
The victim was transported to Franklin Hospital Medical Center for further treatment. The mother and her children escaped on their own, unharmed. The father was not home when the fire started. The fire was declared extinguished at 10:03 p.m.
The men estimate the entire rescue took less than five minutes. "It's hard to tell time, everything goes so fast," Steven Weltner said. "It seemed like an eternity ... It probably took all of four minutes."
The quick alerted and the immediate response helped. According to Walter Weltner, the firefighters of Engine Co. 3, as well as the entire department, were ready for an emergency. In fact, much of his company was waiting outside the firehouse when Vella pulled up with the alert.
"I would say [the time] made a difference in getting the gentleman out," said Walter Weltner, an ex-chief and 21-year veteran.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but it originated in the front of the house. Witnesses reported seeing 20-foot-high flames.
Fire Chief Robert Petry praised the firefighters' heroic efforts. He said, "We train our firefighters for the unfortunate possibility of an event like this occurring, and it is gratifying that when it does happen, our firefighters respond with quickness, professionalism and great courage."
All fire department units responded, and mutual aid was called in from the Hewlett, Woodmere, Lawrence-Cedarhurst and Elmont Fire Departments.
The occupants of the home, who were not identified by the department, were reached by cell phone by a neighbor, but they declined to comment. The neighbor, Steven Lopeck, and his wife, Chris, said they had barbecued with the family earlier in the evening. Many of the block's residents were trying to make the best of the blackout situation before the fire added even more stress.
