WATCH: Stunning Rescue By Truck Driver, Cops At Willimantic Fire

WILLIMANTIC, CT — A Griswold public works employee and volunteer firefighter, and two Willimantic police officers, worked to affect a stunning and "quick-thinking" rescue of a person trapped in a house fire Tuesday in Willimantic.

Willimantic Fire Chief Marc Scrivener said that when the call came in just before 9 a.m. Tuesday for a fire at 1163 Main St., firefighters were out on another call. It would be police officers who first saw the blaze and began rescue efforts — and seconds later, Peter Dameron, a decades-long volunteer firefighter and paramedic, who was en route to Willimantic Waste with a load of debris to be dumped.

"I'd pulled aside to let the cop pass me when I saw the smoke coming out the front of the building. I pulled over and let (police) know I was a volunteer firefighter when I noticed the guy hanging out the window. I suggested to police that I back the truck up," he said, adding it would then be a "just a four-foot drop."

"He was definitely in trouble," Dameron said, referring to the man that was clinging to the window. He jumped into the truck bed, and "the cops climbed in, and I pulled the truck away from the building," Dameron said.

Dameron also jumped into the truck bed to help, since he's an EMT.

Firefighters, employing a UConn fire ladder truck, climbed in to the dumpster truck to retrieve the man, who was soon flown via LifeStar to Rhode Island Hospital's Burn Center.

Scrivener said he'd describe the man's condition as "serious," given his burns and smoke inhalation.

Dameron, 52, who has worked for Griswold Public Works for five years and has been fighting fires since he was 18, said that the man had suffered "burns to both hands." Had the man not been rescued, "he'd have been in real trouble," Dameron said.

Scrivener said he phoned Griswold First Selectman Dana Bennett to offer thanks for Dameron's efforts.

"It was a really remarkable, quick thinking," effort, Scrivener said, to figure out how to get the man from the window. "A heroic effort."

The incredible rescue was captured on video and in still images by Nick Lucas, a retired Willimantic Fire Department captain.

Lucas, who spent 37 years with the fire company, told Patch that he goes to fires to take photos to "share with my brothers and sisters."

"And I go to make sure everyone is safe," he added.

Lucas' video has been seen by thousands.

NBC 10 reported that Willimantic Police Department Lt. Matt Solak said officers, including a detective and a K9 officer, saw the fire before it was even reported and began rescue efforts.

Scrivener said that the fire was knocked down quickly, adding that Fire Captain Kevin Theriault "had water on the fire right away."

The cause of the fire is under investigation.