Not exactly hot off the press, if you will excuse the pun, but it is a good yarn. The following story was printed in New York's Newsday, way back in March 18, 1987.
An alert firefighter, guided by a fire victim's pet dog who "kept barking and running in front" of him, dragged the man to safety from his smoke-filled Wantagh home on Monday. The victim, Peter Glaser, 46, was reported in critical but stable condition yesterday in the intensive care unit of Nassau County Medical Center, suffering from smoke inhalation. The dog, also saved, was apparently unhurt.
Firefighter John Scalesi said the dog, which neighbors described as a Pomeranian terrier, led him to Glaser. "It was dark inside and full of smoke," the 30-year-old Scalesi recalled. "The heat was tremendous.The dog was there . . . and he kept barking and running in front of me," Scalesi said. "He helped me find Glaser. He was lying about 10 feet from the rear door. I hoisted him over my shoulder and took him out. The dog followed me." At the time of the fire, about 12:20 p.m., Glaser was alone in the one-and-a-half story Cape Cod home at 2926 Montgomery St., reading in a bedroom. His wife was at work. Firefighters said the fire was apparently caused by a cigarette. Glaser had gone to the bathroom, and when he re-entered the hallway between the two rooms, he found it filled with smoke and collapsed.
Scalesi arrived with other North Bellmore volunteers to find smoke and flames coming from a rear window. The firefighters were told by neighbors that at least one person was inside. Scalesi, who is an asthmatic and who was wearing neither a mask nor any other sort of oxygen apparatus, immediately forced his way in the front door. After the rescue, firefighters gave Glaser oxygen and took him to the hospital. Scalesi took oxygen but stayed on the scene. Scalesi, a Bellmore resident, works days as an ambulance driver and nights as a motel security guard. It was Scalesi's second rescue; he received a citation for rescuing another person from a fire in 1979. North Bellmore Fire Chief Robert Feinsilver said that the fire was confined to the bedroom. Feinsilver said that the house had two smoke alarms but that both were inoperative. He said one on the main floor had no batteries. The second device, in the basement, had batteries but they were dead, the chief reported.