Off-duty cops save neighbors from blaze

Two off-duty cops worked their way down a Staten Island block to alert homeowners to a fast-moving fire on Friday, officials said.

The 7:40 a.m. blaze at 106 Pitney Ave. led Port Authority Officer Craig Hiledebrand and NYPD Lt. Frank Rivera, both of whom were off-duty and preparing to drive their young kids to school, to abandon their plans so they could knock on doors and alert nearby homeowners about the threatening flames and smoke.

Neighbors console each other after a three-alarm fire on Staten Island Friday morning.
Neighbors console each other after a three-alarm fire on Staten Island Friday morning.Seth Gottfried

“The flames were spreading really, really fast,” said off-duty PAPD Officer Craig Hildebrandp. The rear of this house was totally engulfed in flames.

“When Frank and I ran to the front of the house, there was black smoke pouring out of the windows on the second floor and you could see flames on the roof that were spreading to the adjoining roofs,” he said.

The pair quickly teamed up to rouse their neighbors about the impending danger.

“We started going down the block, along the row of town houses, waking people up. We were shouting, ‘Get out! Get out!’ and banging on the doors and ringing the bells,” Hildebrand recalled.

Firefighters extinguish a three-alarm fire on Pitney Avenue on Staten IslandSeth Gottfried

Just as Hildebrand and Rivera were giving their shout-outs, an off-duty FDNY firefighter and two city Sanitation Department workers on their morning garbage route began doing pretty much the same thing, sources said.

The fact that so many civil servants combined to help their neighbors didn’t surprise an FDNY spokeswoman.

“This is a neighborhood where a lot of public servants live, so it’s not surprising that several of them helped their neighbors when the fire broke out,” the FDNY spokeswoman said.

The first firefighters arrived three minutes after the blaze was first reported, the spokeswoman said.

Within 15 minutes, the blaze, which is believed to have started on a back deck, reached three-alarms, requiring the deployment of 33 pieces of equipment and 138 firefighters.

Three firefighters suffered minor injuries, but no civilians were hurt. The fire was declared under control at 8:48 a.m., the FDNY spokeswoman said.