By TOM CARDINALE
In all his years as a firefighter, Capt. Brian Wheary of the Asbury Park Fire Department says he’s never had a rescue like the one that took place at Munroe Towers last week.Wheary was among the first firefighters to respond and, along with firefighter Mike O’Gara, was the first to enter the burning apartment. The two pulled resident Sunovia Williams out of her smoke-filled home.
Wheary, O’Gara, and firefighters Gregg Arce and Robert Pasquariello were the first on the scene when the call first came in. Once they had arrived and surveyed the situation, Wheary says the four caught the elevator, which was still operational and took it to the 12th floor.
They then proceeded, using the stairs, to the 13th floor, where Arce and Pasquariello hooked a line into the building’s stand pipe as he and O’Gara proceeded to the 14th floor.
“Myself and O’Gara forced entry into apartment 14T with a hydrolic ram,” Wheary said. “We then began a primary search. Once we entered the door we encountered thick, black, dense smoke. Visibility was zero.”
At this time firefighters Arce and Pasquariello were bringing the hose up from the 13th floor.
“O’Gara went to the left and I went to the right,” Wheary continued. ” We went down a hallway and ended up in the living room area, about 40 feet into the apartment.”
At this time, Wheary said, O’Gara called out that he had found a victim.
“I was about three to five feet away,” Wheary said, “and I just reached to his voice when he stated he had a victim and my hands landed on her arms. I lifted her arms and he picked up her legs and we proceeded to make our way out of the apartment.”
Because of the thick smoke and cluttered apartment, retracing their steps became difficult for the two firefighters and they nearly backed down the hallway, towards the bedroom where the fire was burning.
“Firefighter Jason Fazio was at the door,” Wheary said, ” and he told me to follow his light. I couldn’t see the light but I told him to keep talking and he guided us to the door with his voice.”
From there, O’Gara and Wheary, along with Pasquariello, carried Williams down to the thirteenth floor, where they relayed down that they had retrieved a victim. They brought her down in the elevator, where two EMTs were waiting, and she was immediately transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
While the three carried Williams down the stairs, firefighter Arce remained in the apartment alone with the line.
O’Gara said he immediately returned to the apartment, knowing Arce was alone, but as soon as he entered the room he ran out of oxygen.
“I immediately ran out of air,” he said, “and I had to turn around and go back and dive into the stairs.”
While this was taking place, another rescue was occurring just down the hall in apartment 14N, where a 22-month-old baby and two women were trapped due to the heavy smoke. They were rescued by Asbury Park firefighters Mike Maunter tner, Brett Nielsen, and Mike Disbrow as well as Neptune firefighter Joe Mauro.
By this time, numerous firefighters were on the floor and they began working to suppress the fire, the cause of which is still under investigation, finally getting it under control at approximately 1:48 p.m.
Most would call Capt. Wheary and firefighter O’Gara heroes for their actions. But they are quick to point to all the help they had.
“Without the other guys doing their jobs this wouldn’t have been possible,” Wheary said, “Any of the other guys on that shift would’ve done the same thing, we just happened to be the ones in the room.”
Wheary said the condition of the apartment, as well as the smoke and heat, made this fire especially brutal. The size of the building was also an issue, as it was reported that the average firefighter went through three to four tanks of oxygen during the rescue, a fairly substantial amount.
Although the fire destroyed the apartment and displaced hundreds of residents for a still unknown length of time, the Asbury Park Fire Department, as well as the numerous surrounding companies that came to their aid, can take solace in the fact that Mrs. Williams was rescued and no one else was seriously injured in the blaze. One unidentified Munroe Towers resident, who encountered the firefighters on their way out after revisiting the scene Monday afternoon, put it best when he said, simply, “Thank you.”
Email Tom Cardinale at tom@thecoaster.net
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Published every Thursday.
As a resident of the city, I think its about time we start hiring more fireman. When I discovered how many men work each day, and with the responsibility of answering first aid calls as well as fires, I see disaster waiting to happen. These are good fellas. They need our support and some help on the front lines.