By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, February 14, 1992
The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B08
A 13-year-old boy escaped injury in a fire Thursday when he climbed off a second-floor balcony at his family’s apartment onto a storage shed roof, then jumped into the arms of a next-door neighbor.
Ricky Correale of 147 Washington Ave. admitted he was scared, but was laughing later when he said Sam Aguilar, 15, “saved my life.”
John Godfroy, 72, and his wife Alma, 71, tenants in the first-floor apartment where the fire started, were taken to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck for observation, Fire Chief William A. Weber said.
Following an alarm at 7:53 a.m., firefighters saw heavy, black smoke coming out the front door and windows of the building, which also contains three storefronts and two other apartments.
“The fire started in the bedroom closet,” Weber said. “A [lighted] cigarette accidentally fell into the pocket of the woman’s robe. She then hung the robe up in the closet.”
The fire was under control within 15 minutes, Weber said. Heat and water damage was confined to the couple’s living room and bedroom, although smoke damage extended to the second-floor apartment and a store next door, Weber said.
Correale, whose mother had left for work, was coming out of the shower when he heard a frantic knock on the door and shouts that the building was on fire, he said.
He grabbed a jacket, sweat pants, a T-shirt, and sneakers. Unable to go down the stairs because of heavy smoke, Correale went out the back door onto the roof of the shed.
Aguilar was in the parking lot when he saw the smoke, then saw Correale on the roof, which is about 12 feet from the ground. Aguilar said he told his friend, who weighs about 130 pounds, to jump, and that he would catch him.
“He kept saying, `Are you sure you’re going to catch me? He asked me that like six times. I said jump, jump, jump,” Aguilar said.
Correale said he took another look at the flames shooting out of the first-floor windows. He jumped, and Aguilar caught him in a bear-hug.
Little Ferry firefighters were assisted by the Carlstadt, Hasbrouck Heights, and Moonachie fire departments.
ID: 17368813 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)