City Honors Firefighters After Heroic Rescue in Bridgeport

Three firefighters risked it all to save the life of a 93-year-old woman trapped in a burning building, and tonight city leaders gathered in Bridgeport to say thank you.

Firefighters Bobby Hernandez and Richard Messer and Lt. Neil Carr were among those called to the Bennett Street blaze the night of Nov. 19. An 87-year-old man made it out safely but the woman was still upstairs, locked in a second-floor bedroom, according to city officials.

Hernandez and Messer sprinted inside and crawled through the smoky apartment. They broke down the bedroom door and found the woman in bed, unconscious.

“[Messer] grabbed her legs, I grabbed her arms, and we made our way to the stairwell,” Hernandez explained. “From there, she must have woken up. She got a little combative and started ripping off my face piece.”

Carr rushed over and helped carry her the rest of the way.

“Thank God he was there,” Hernandez said. “It was pretty intense.”

Both residents were taken to the hospital and were conscious when leaving the scene.

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch wrote in a news release that the firefighters were likely to say they were “just doing their job” – and they did.

“Just do what you’re told to do, and if you do your job properly, you’ll come out and go home the next day,” said Carr.

But what the firefighters emphasized most Monday night was the importance of teamwork.

“There’s no way one person could’ve done that on their own. From the guys on the hose line, to the guys opening up the roof, to the ventilation going,” Hernandez said. “If one thing wouldn’t have [gone] right on that job, the rescue would never have been possible, so it was a total group effort. Everybody at the scene that day did exactly what they were supposed to do.”

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch and City Councilwoman Sue Brannelly hailed them as heroes.

“They gather grace to have the courage to do what they do, especially in those moments, especially when it is so acute and so fast,” said Susan Brannelly. “To see somebody be brave enough to save someone else’s life is just beyond words.”