Pittsburgh Police Officer, Recruit Pull Elderly Man From Burning Home
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Two Pittsburgh Police officers are being hailed as heroes after helping to pull an elderly man out of a burning home in Hazelwood on Thursday night.
The fire broke out around 6:30 p.m. at a home in the 5600 block of Second Avenue.
According to the Public Safety Department, Officers Steve McGouldrick and Devon Koontz were on patrol in that area, near the Glenwood Bridge, when then heard shouting and spotted the burning home.
They called for help, then Officer McGouldrick went around to the back of the home and Officer Koontz went to the front.
When the officers went inside, they found the home smoke-filled.
Officials say Officer Koontz, who is just a recruit with five weeks of field training, managed to find the elderly man's son, who was the one shouting because he could not find his dad.
Officer Koontz and the son found 87-year-old man, Gilbert Cordero, in a front hallway and pulled him to safety.
In a press release, Pittsburgh Police Zone 4 Sgt. Gino Perri said of the two officers: "They did a fantastic job. They had to make a split second decision and everything turned out well as a result."
Cordero and Officer Koontz were treated for smoke inhalation at local hospitals, but are expected to be OK.
Much of the house is charred and boarded up after the fire. According to Cordero's son, a lamp fell on a recliner, sparking the flames.
"It was an electrical thing with a lamp that he had, a lamp he used to read," he said. "He went to the bathroom and the lamp fell on the chair and that's what happened."
