Westfield Fire Capt. Rebecca Boutin checks her gear at the Chestnut Street fire in March after she went back into the burning building to rescue a firefighter who had become trapped inside. (File photo by Chief Photographer Fred Gore)
WESTFIELD – A city firefighter will be recognized by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick Dec. 18 when he honors heroic acts of bravery by firefighters in the Commonwealth at the 23rd annual Firefighter of the Year awards ceremony in Worcester.
Fire Capt. Rebecca Boutin was nominated for recognition by Fire Chief Mary Regan at the urging of firefighter Steve Makos after she saved his life during an effort to extinguish a raging fire at 13 Chestnut Street on March 30, 2012.
Firefighters had been summoned to Chestnut Street after a fire broke out in the house where the owner had apparently established an extensive marijuana growing operation.
Regan said in an interview Wednesday that the challenge the firefighters faced was compounded by the fact that, because of his use of the building, the owner had taken steps to make entry difficult.
“Because of the business that he was in, he had the building really secure” Regan said “so it was a lot of work initially to gain entry because you had multiple locks on the doors.”
Once inside, Regan said, the house was not set up like a normal apartment but instead was cluttered with plants, extension cords and lights which obstructed passage inside the house which was pitch black, filled with smoke and intensely hot.
“You can’t see anything but everywhere you turn you’re getting tangled up in things” she said.
Regan explained that the deputy commanding the firefighters at the fire had ordered Boutin and Makos to the third floor.
The two firefighters found, Regan said that, although there were no flames at that level, there was a great deal of smoke and intense heat.
She said that Makos advised Boutin that he had to leave the building because his supply of breathing air was almost exhausted. He turned over the nozzle of the hose they were using to her and turned to leave.
However, as he started to leave, the fire raging on the second floor “flashed” and sent a wave of flames rolling up the stairwell and into the third floor causing Boutin to also retreat.
Regan explained that when superheated smoke in such a situation ignites the carbon in the smoke actually burns and a ball of flames erupts.
She said that, at the Chestnut Street fire, when the fire flashed, the explosion blew out windows sending flames as much as 20 feet outside the windows.
She said that the force of the flash explosion knocked firefighters who were fighting the fire from outside the building off their feet.
“When that (fireball) came out that window with that force there were people on their back looking up” Regan said “and that was on the second floor above their heads.”
She said that, apparently, the blast of flames knocked Makos down and he lost his grip on the fire hose.
She said that, for firefighters, the water line is their lifeline as they are often unable to see or hear much of anything inside the incredibly hot and noisy fire environment and the fire hose can be used as a guide to safety outside.
Knocked over and disoriented, Makos was unable to find his way out, Regan said, but he had the presence of mind to stay still to conserve what air he had left and avoid the possibility of moving deeper into the fire.
She said that Makos told him that he stayed where he was hoping that somebody would come looking for him but, since he knew he was running out of air, “he thought he was done.”
Regan said “He had pretty much resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going to get out of there.” She said that Makos told her that “he had visions of him being at his funeral, that’s how close he thought he was.”
Regan said that, when Boutin got outside the building, she immediately checked the firefighters under her immediate command and found that Makos had not made it out.
Boutin immediately put her gear back on and returned to the third floor in search of her colleague, leading another firefighter with another hose.
“She knew what she was going back up into” Regan said, “she knew she was risking herself.”
Regan said that Boutin followed the line but she reached the nozzle and did not find Makos so she immediately “got into a search mode” began a systematic search of the inky black room, crawling on the floor to stay below the worst of the smoke.
Regan said “She actually kicked him and he was still alert enough to feel the kick, grabbed her leg, she realized it was him and he was crawling up her and she was pulling him and threw him kinda right over her head and he used the line and followed it right out of the building.”
Regan said that Makos suffered burns on the back of his neck and was taken to Noble Hospital where he was treated and released.
Boutin suffered some burns too, Regan said, but declined treatment and “went back to the fire.”
Regan said that, to her knowledge, no city firefighter has ever been killed fighting a fire but said “There have been some very close calls.”
However, Regan had to reach back the 1985 fire at Pleasant Street Market for a call as close as Makos’ and said that the Chestnut Street fire was a difficult one to extinguish.
“It came very close to being a death trap” she said.
