A quick-thinking veteran saved his neighbor from a fire that tore through her Westchester home Sunday morning.
Brian Avery, a veteran of the Air National Guard, ran toward the flaming house in Yorktown Heights, where Maria Eliseo was stuck on the second floor around 11:30 a.m.
“I looked out my front door. I saw smoke coming out of the house,” Avery said. “One of the children said, ‘Hey! My mom’s still inside.’ ”
Avery, 48, hoisted a 22-foot extension ladder up to the second-floor roof and climbed as smoke was billowing out of the windows.
Eliseo, who is recovering from hip surgery, was stuck in a room on the second floor of the home.
A few other good Samaritans helped get the woman down and away from the burning home.
“We were able to get her out, get her down the ladder,” Avery said about the rescue. “She’s OK now.”
Avery credited his neighbors with the dramatic save.
The two-story home was a charred wreck as Mohegan Lake Fire Department put out the ferocious blaze before it could spread to a neighboring home.
Eliseo — along with daughter Marie and husband Giulio — made it out safely and they were taken to Hudson Valley Hospital Center for minor injuries.