Man Injured After Dragging Flaming Mattresses to Save House

When he heard his friend's mother screaming that her upstairs bedroom was on fire, Paul DeCaito raced up the stairs and dragged a burning mattress and box spring into the yard with his bare hands.

DeCaito, a Belleville resident, suffered second-degree burns to his hands this morning at the split-level home at 382 and 384 Bloomfield Avenue, where the blaze started around 10:30 a.m., but his actions may have stopped the second-floor fire from spreading.

"I ran upstairs and she had been trying to put it out herself. The mattress was completely engulfed," DeCaito said standing outside the home in an undershirt, smudged with soot, his hands bubbling with large blisters.

DeCaito said had he not acted quickly, the house could have burned to the ground.

"I'm just glad I was able to help the two women in the house," he said, nursing his badly-burned hands.

DeCaito declined to be photographed, and refused medical treatment at the scene.

Verona Fire Department Chief Pat McEvoy released few details at the scene, but said the fire was under investigation and had been brought under control. McEvoy said DeCaito was the only person  injured in the blaze.

A woman and a young girl were standing on the stoop outside talking to a firefighter, but the house was blocked off by police tape, and they could not be reached for comments.

More than a dozen firefighters, two engines and a Verona Rescue Squad ambulance were at the scene. The Verona Police closed westbound Bloomfield Avenue from Malvern Place to Park Avenue heading toward Caldwell. Traffic heading east toward Montclair narrowed to one lane at Park Avenue. As of 11:30 a.m. traffic was still being diverted.