Three Pittsburgh firefighters rescued a man Thursday evening from his burning home in Sheraden and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation to revive him, their chief said.
Michael Smith, 40, and other family members escaped after the fire erupted about 6:35 p.m. in a second-floor bedroom of the two-story brick house in the 1200 block of Faulkner Street, said Bill Martin, a deputy city fire chief.
“The male went back inside to get his cat and was overcome by smoke and collapsed on the stairs leading to the second floor,” Martin said. He said the crew of Engine 31 — Lt. Steve Ashe, Lt. Tim Hottenfeller and firefighter Tom Wilson — rescued Smith.
“They thought everyone was out. They went inside, found him on the stairs, pulled him out and performed CPR on the porch,” said Martin.
Smith was taken to UPMC Mercy hospital, where initial reports were that he is doing well, Martin said.
The fire was confined to the bedroom but there was smoke and water damage in other parts of the house. Investigators are trying to determine what caused the fire.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
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