NEWS

'He saved himself': Erie man who pulled fire victim from home said moan made rescue happen

Tim Hahn
Erie Times-News

Ryan Mazzocco thought he had no chance of rescuing the man in the burning apartment house he was driving past.

Mazzocco, 51, had twice tried to enter the black and flame- and smoke-filled apartment on the second floor of 2804 Liberty St. on the morning of March 8 to see if he could rescue a man in his 70s whom the downstairs tenant said might still be home.

Mazzocco said he backed out of the apartment after climbing the stairs to reach it because the smoke was too great and he couldn't see. He said he went in a second time, crawling on his hands and knees to avoid the smoke and heat, and still had no idea where the man might be.

Then he said he heard a moan, felt around in the blackness and touched the flesh of the man's calf.

"I reached down to his ankle and dragged him out of the kitchen and down three steps. He laid on his back, and his hands and face were black and his eyes were red," Mazzocco said. "I kept telling him he was going to be OK, and we were safe."

Within seconds, Erie firefighters arrived and the man was removed from the building and taken to the hospital.

Mazzocco said he went outside to take in some fresh air, and got sick.

Erie fire officials credit Mazzocco's actions in saving the man, who was taken by ambulance to UPMC Hamot and later flown to UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment of burns and inhalation burns, Erie Chief Fire Inspector Don Sauer said.

Updated information on the man's condition was not available late last week.

Ryan Mazzocco, 51, of Erie, credited with saving a man in his 70s from his burning apartment at 2804 Liberty St. in the city on March 8, 2023, said the man's moan enabled him to find the man and pull him to safety.

"I called him a good Samaritan," Sauer said. "He ran in the house, and if (the man) had been in there a couple more minutes until we had gotten there, it could have been the difference between life and death. Getting him out before our guys arrived definitely gave him a more fighting chance."

Mazzocco, who was taken to Saint Vincent Hospital to be checked out following the rescue, said the real credit belongs to the man he saved.

"He saved himself when he moaned," he said.

More:Investigators believe fire in east Erie home that injured 4 started around propane heater

Flames and a cry for help

Mazzocco, an Erie resident, said he was driving to work and was heading south on Liberty Street on March 8 when he heard a woman scream. He said he stopped, rolled down his window and asked the woman if she was OK, and he saw flames coming from the apartment house.

The woman said she was fine, but she believed the other tenant was trapped upstairs, he said.

Mazzocco said he went to the side door and ran up the stairs leading to the upstairs apartment. When he got there, he said he was met by a wall of smoke.

"I screamed, 'Come to my voice! Come to me!'" he said.

Mazzocco said the smoke was so overpowering that he backed out of the apartment, took off his glasses and his coat, and made another attempt to go inside, this time crawling while yelling to the man and asking him where he was.

He said he was just starting to back out of the apartment again, after hearing no response to his calls and getting overcome by smoke, when he heard the man groan. Mazzocco said he felt around and found him.

"It went so fast, it felt like it didn't happen," Mazzocco said of the rescue. "If he hadn't moaned, I was going to leave."

Sauer said the fire at 2804 Liberty St. started in the second-floor apartment. There was heavy fire damage to the second floor and water damage to the first floor, he said.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation late last week.

The American Red Cross was assisting the first-floor tenant, Sauer said.

"I'm appreciative of what he did. He really put himself in harm's way," Erie Fire Chief Joe Walko said of Mazzocco's actions. "That's the natural reaction of most people. When someone needs help, they're going to help."

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.