Pennsylvania

2 Officers Save 4 People During House Fire in Ridley Park

The fire started at a building on the 100 block of West Ridley Avenue around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Two police officers jumped into action and saved four people during a house fire in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania.

The fire started at a Victorian-style home on the 100 block of West Ridley Avenue around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Ridley Park police officers Michael Hanly and Jason Golden responded to the scene.

"I just went to the back to see what was going on," Hanly told NBC10. "So I went around in between the two houses and I saw that fire escape and somebody coming down it."

The woman told Hanly that her parents, an older couple, were still inside the home and that her father couldn't get himself out.

Hanley and Golden then rushed to the third floor of the burning building and found four residents inside. 

The woman's father, a man in his 60's, couldn't walk.

"He was pretty badly burned, it seemed like, and he couldn't walk so I threw his cane and put him on my shoulder," Hanly said.

The two officers carried him out and helped the other three escape as well.

The man in his 60's was taken to the Crozer-Chester Medical Center where he is in serious but guarded condition. Officer Hanly suffered burns and smoke inhalation. He was taken to the hospital where he was treated and later released.

The other three residents and Officer Golden were not seriously hurt.

Both officers are also firefighters and come from first responder families, Ridley Park Police Chief Robert Frazier told NBC10.

"It's the family. They've been trained," Chief Frazier said. "Their families know when they leave home they may not come back. They take that risk and they support them and we're just lucky to have them."

Hanly, who is only 21-years-old, refused to call himself a hero.

"It's just normal," he said. "It's what everybody in my family would've done so I did it too."

The fire severely damaged the home, so much so that it had to be demolished after the flames were brought under control. The Fire Marshal is investigating the cause.

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