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New Castle Woman Thanks Firefighters Who Saved Her Life

NEW CASTLE (KDKA) -- A Lawrence County woman is alive today, thanks to some brave firefighters. She was rescued by the first responders and now she is taking time to say thank you.

Sylvia Petro's life changed forever on Feb. 11.

She was on the second story of her East Winter Avenue home in New Castle, when a fire broke out. She was trapped, her phone disconnected while on the line with 911.

When firefighters arrived, they heard her banging on a window for help.

Crews were able to rescue her, just 90 seconds before flames tore through the roof.

Emotional, and beyond thankful, Petro met the firefighters who saved her life. She took dinner and a plaque to the station.

"People need to know how important it is that what you do, and how courageous and brave all of you are, because if you weren't, I wouldn't be here right now," said Petro.

Petro was finally feeling well enough to thank the firefighters in person. It's been a long seven months since the fire. That day, her lungs were badly damaged and she was in a coma for 10 days.

And, although she is still recovering, she knows and the firefighters know the outcome could have been much worse.

"It's something you hope you never really have to do, a slow day is a good day, but just thankful everything worked out," said Bobby Eakin, a firefighter.

Firefighters on the scene that day, they say they were just doing their jobs.

"I think that's why everyone wants to be a fireman, I mean when you sign up and say you want to be a fireman, you want to protect life and property," said Marco Bulisco, a firefighter.

"This is what we're here for, this is what we do every day, these guys touch people's lives every day; so like I said, this is what we're here for," added firefighter Justin Data.

"The way we think as firefighters, we don't think of ourselves as heroes, we think of ourselves as people that are just doing a job," Shawn Johnson, another firefighter, said.

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