EVERETT – Two Everett Department of Buildings employees rushed into a burning building when they saw smoke, alerting a firefighter who found a young girl trapped in the flames and enabling him to perform a dramatic rescue.

It happened around 8 a.m. on Wednesday when flames broke out on the third floor of an apartment building on Hancock Street.

“I looked up and saw the back corner of the top floor, completely black,” said neighbor Leah Antinick.

Everett firefighter hailed as ‘hero’

Everett DPW employees Jesse Winocour and Jason Papa happened to be driving by.

“We came down here. I smelled smoke, smelled something. I asked him, 'Do you smell that?' As we came down the street, I saw smoke coming out of the roof. So I told him, 'Stop the truck, stop the truck!' We both ran out, ran to the building, kicked the doors in and got everyone out,” Winocour said.

But when the men reached the third floor, conditions were too dangerous to reach a trapped small child.

“We kept trying to climb until I couldn’t breathe and my eyes burned,” Dad said.

“We tried to get to the third floor where the little girl was. We couldn't make it all the way in. Too much smoke, too much fire. We tried,” Winocour said. “But when we got down, we told the fireman to go upstairs. He went upstairs and saved her. He's the hero. The fireman saved the little girl. He's the hero.”

Mayday call sent

Everett Fire Chief Gary Ostler said the girl was unconscious when rescued, but was conscious in the ambulance and was expected to be OK.

“As far as I know, the baby is OK,” Ostler said, praising DPW employees and firefighters for their quick action. “They were very helpful. It was good that they were there, saw it and helped. This is the ultimate team sport, as I like to call it. Everyone pitches in. Their help got people out of the building, allowed us to go deeper into the building and get the baby.”

At one point, a firefighter made a mayday call, but they were able to get to safety. The firefighter was taken to Mass General Hospital with a minor injury. The little girl was unconscious when she was taken out of the house.

“She was unconscious and apparently not breathing. I was so scared to see her,” said neighbor Connie Garcia. “He couldn't do anything else, he just dropped to the ground.”

Residents homeless after fire

Dad was asked what was going through his mind when he saw the fire.

“Honestly, nothing. [Winocour] said 'Let's go.' I went,” Dad said. “I'm a little shaken when I saw that little girl come out like that in his arms, just hanging there. I have six kids myself. I have three boys, three girls. She was about the same age as one of my daughters. But at the end of the day, she's OK.”

The fire forced around 20 people to evacuate their homes. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but a neighbor said the fire probably started in a laundry room on the third floor.

“Thank God, thank God he did it, otherwise it would have been a tragedy,” said homeless neighbor Sue Decarney.