Joseph Sanford Jr., Inwood FD on Long Island, dies from injuries at fire
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A veteran firefighter died Tuesday as a result of injuries sustained battling a fire in Woodmere last week.
Joseph Sanford Jr., of the Inwood Fire Department, was among around 100 firefighters responding to a fire on Dec. 19 at a home on Central Avenue.
Sanford was a 17-year veteran of the Inwood fire department and leaves behind a wife and children.
Joseph Sanford Jr., a 17-year veteran of the Inwood Fire Department, suffered cardiac arrest after officials believe the first floor of a house in Woodmere collapsed early last Friday morning, causing him to fall to the basement.
“The large amount of smoke, it was very possible he got disoriented and very possibly gotten separated from his partner,” said Woodmere Fire Chief Leonard Cherson.
He was resuscitated with CPR and rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
He never regained consciousness after the fire, said Inwood Fire Chief Anthony Rivelli. Sanford was taken off a ventilator at North Shore University Hospital Tuesday and died.
Sanford had been on a ventilator since the fire, authorities said. His injuries were not disclosed.
He was discovered in the debris-strewn basement after a first-floor collapse, fire officials said.
The firefighters were told to evacuate. Sanford, who hadn’t been reported missing, was discovered when Hewlett volunteers later entered the basement, according to officials.
Sanford, a 17-year veteran of the Inwood Fire Department and a former assistant fire chief, was a husband and father who worked for the Nassau County Public Works Department, officials said.
