Middletown Men Honored For Thanksgiving Day Fire Rescue

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The three North Middletown residents who ran into a burning home in the pre-dawn hours of Thanksgiving Day, pulling their neighbors inside to safety, were honored just before Christmas in a ceremony at town hall.

Middletown residents Arthur Kaylor, Justin Lombardi and Anthony Watterson were honored at the Dec. 20 Middletown Township Committee meeting. They were bestowed with the Life Saving Valor Award from the Township.

As Patch reported, the fire broke out a little before 6 a.m. Thanksgiving Day in a home on the 100 block of Ocean Avenue. Everyone inside the home was fast asleep, said neighbors.

Kaylor, who lives in that neighborhood, was headed out early for a day of hunting, but he just happened to forgot his hunting supplies. He had turned around to go home and get them when he noticed the flames. He flagged another man, Watterson, down on the street and the two kicked the door down and screamed into the smoke-filled home. A third man, Lombardi, already happened to be inside the home, also trying to see if anyone was inside the smoke-filled house.

"I was screaming, 'Anyone in the house?!'" Kaylor told Patch at the time. "I found (one person in his mid-20s) passed out in the living room 10 feet from heavy flames and smoke. We helped pull him to safety as a third man held the door. It was a combined effort."

Along with Middletown firefighters, they also helped pull a second sleeping adult from the burning home.

Middletown volunteer firefighters Second Assistant Chief Anthony Fulciniti and First Assistant Chief William Kane Jr. also attended the Dec. 20 ceremony to give their thanks to the three men.

"Looking at the things that really define us as a community, I'm so proud that Middletown has the world's largest volunteer fire department, with 500 individuals ready to serve at a moment's notice," said Middletown Mayor Tony Perry at the ceremony. "But it really is when push comes to shove, and emergencies happen, people are defined in those moments. People are defined when they rush into a burning building, rush into danger. Fortunately, these three gentlemen were there to assist in what could have been a Thanksgiving tragedy."

More than 50 Middletown volunteer firefighters also responded to put out the fire. The home was almost entirely destroyed and the heat was so great that the siding on neighboring homes melted off, Patch reported at the time. Initial report: Neighbors Save Residents In North Middletown House Fire

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