Two NYPD neighborhood coordination officers rescued a woman and her two-year-old grandson from a fire in their Queens home Thursday.
Police Officers John Maderik and Brian Coffey of the 106 Precinct ran into the burning home after a passing motorist alerted them of the fire. Once the officers made it upstairs they found the grandmother disoriented, in a smoky room looking for her belongings.
“When you’re up there, you can’t see what’s going on,” said Officer Maderik. “In the first couple of seconds, smoke gets in your lungs and it becomes very difficult to breathe. We had to get in and out of there pretty quickly.”
The two officers rushed the woman and toddler out of the home and to safety. Officers Maderik and Coffey rushed back inside and kicked an apartment door down to ensure nobody was left behind.
Officer Maderik, a 30-year veteran of the NYPD, said “of course, you never know if anyone is still up there” when asked if he would hesitate to rush into a burning building again.
