Must see new video of New Castle, PA mayday. Lt. talks about being rescued with wall near collapse.
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More video from WTAE-TV
Raw video from our earlier coverage of this story
We showed you yesterday morning raw video as firefighters and police officers rushed to assist a New Castle, Pennsylvania firefighter who became trapped during a collapse at a vacant commercial building fire. Lt. John Onufrak is bruised but telling the story of his rescue to the local news media.
There is also much better quality video of the rescue mixed into the various TV news stories about the fire. The raw video can be viewed at KDSTV.com by clicking here and signing in as a guest. It’s quite dramatic.
The intense heat caused the walls to bulge and give way on East Washington Street. Chief Tom Maciarello said Lt. John Onufrak and his fellow firefighters were forced to abandon the building, but “all of a sudden, the floor collapsed under Lt. Onofrak and the second floor fell on him, which trapped him.” “It happened so fast, it knocked me towards the door. I was buried and stuck. The guys said they could see my hand and my head,” Onufrak said. “As we were attempting to pull him out, his air pack got caught. As we were pulling him, his air pack was pulling against him, so we had to cut the straps of the air pack,” Maciarello said.
WPXI-TV returned to the scene on Monday with Lt. Onufrak and found the air pack that hindered his removal still in the rubble. Click here to watch that story.
“That’s when the big stuff hit me and then it knocked me down and collapsed the stairs and that’s when I got pinned,” he said. Falling debris pushed him within two or three feet of the door. Fellow firefighters plus two police officers, who had on no protective gear, went to the rescue.
“My inability when I was stuck to move,” Onufrak said when asked what he remembers about the blaze. “I was right down there. The guys came right to me and they were thinking about getting me out, but it was my air tank.” New Castle Fire Chief Tom Maciarello said his men handled the situation properly. “They all stood their ground and they were all aware of the situation. No one backed down at all,” Maciarello said.
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