Mansfield Firefighters Honored At Firefighter Of The Year Awards

MANSFIELD, MA — Two members of the Mansfield Fire Department are being honored for their response to a fire that took the life of one person

Captain John Terry and Firefighter/Paramedic Justin Sliney were given a citation at Tuesday's Firefighter of the Year ceremony for their response to a building fire that involved a death.

On March 8, firefighters received a report of a fire at 21 East St., a wood-framed building with 12 condominiums and no sprinkler system. Upon arrival, the first crew found smoke and fire were coming from a first-floor apartment. Terry and Sliney entered the burning apartment and were immediately met with zero visibility and heavy black smoke that forced them to their stomachs. As they searched through the apartment, firefighters ventilated the windows and finally extinguished the fire to gain some visibility. At that point, Sliney found a woman on the floor, and helped get her out of the building. She was conscious but had serious burns on her mouth, throat and hands.

The seven-person crew went back into the building to search the second floor for other victims. From the time of the box alarm to extinguishing the fire was 13 minutes. The small crew was able to contain the fire to the single apartment. Unfortunately, the woman succumbed to her injuries six days later.

In total, 33 awards were presented to various fire departments.

Click here to read more about the March 8 fire.

Information in this article was provided by the state Department of Fire Services.

Images via Selectman Michael Trowbridge