By Jeff Lipton
Norma Frater, who was a live-in caretaker, was credited with saving the life of Nathaniel Cohen, when she rescued him from his fire-engulfed first-floor bedroom at 1 Elm St., off of Broadway, at 7 a.m. on Jan. 3.
She was very quick, said Det. Raymond Kurz of the Nassau County Arson/Bomb Squad. She should be patted on the back 1,000 times over. I credit his life being saved to her quick actions.
Fire investigators said the blaze started accidentally, when the elderly man was smoking a pipe in bed. Kurz said the pipe tipped over, which ignited a fire in the bedroom. He was trying to exit his bedroom and couldn't make it. The home care worker saved his life. She dragged him out of the house.
Fire officials said Frater lived on the second floor of the Elm Street Cape Cod-style two-story home and Cohen, who regularly smoked a pipe, lived on the first floor. At about 6:30 a.m., she checked on him as she does everyday, and went back upstairs to her room. Minutes later, she told investigators, she smelled smoke and ran downstairs, fighting her way through extremely heavy gray and black smoke, to get to the elderly man's bedroom, Kurz said.
She saw the victim standing in the thick smoke, his bed entirely engulfed in flames, Kurz said. Just as he collapsed, she grabbed him and dragged him to safety outside the building, he said.
But she was not done. She ran back into the house got the keys to the family car and placed the elderly man inside, to shield him from the 25-degree weather. She then ran to a neighbor's house to call 911.
The caretaker got him safely outside, said David DeSetta, second assistant chief of the Woodmere Fire Department. She did an excellent job. I would say she saved him...She then ran across the street to a neighbor's house banging on the door.
Cohen was rushed to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where he was listed in critical condition, with second-degree burns covering 10 percent of his arms and legs, officials said. Shelley Lotenberg, a hospital spokesperson, said Cohen was being treated in the hospital's burn center.
Authorities said they were taking extra precautions because of the elderly man's age. His biggest problem is that he's 97, Kurz said. He was subjected to the excitement of the fire, in which he got burned, and then he was taken from a hot house into 25-degree weather.
Frater suffered smoke inhalation and was treated at St. John's Episcopal Hospital, South Shore in Far Rockaway, and released, Kurz said. Since the house has been made uninhabitable by the fire, Frater is staying in Jamaica, Queens with relatives.
Most of the damage was confined to the rear bedroom on the first-floor, where the blaze erupted.
Our investigation showed that it was caused by the careless use of smoking materials, said Fire Inv. George Laakso of the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office. It's an accidental fire.
About 40 members of the Woodmere Fire Department battled the blaze and received assistance from Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Hewlett, Inwood, Lynbrook and Valley Stream Fire Departments. Fourth Precinct police also arrived to help at the scene. The fire was under control in about 30 minutes, officials said.
Cohen lived in the building for close to 50 years, and has family in Florida, officials said.
The guys did an excellent job to stop it, said DeSetta, who added that firefighters managed to prevent the fire from spreading beyond the bedroom. Some other parts of the house sustained smoke and water damage, officials said.
