Bodycam footage captures dramatic scene as neighbors, emergency personnel rescue residents from burning home
Police praised the efforts by emergency personnel to rescue residents and a dog.
Recently released police bodycam footage shows the harrowing scene as firefighters, police and even neighbors rallied together to rescue residents trying to escape a house fire.
The Bloomfield Police Department in Connecticut released a series of videos on its Facebook page Wednesday, capturing the rescue of four residents and their dog at 378 Cottage Grove Road.
"It's everyday heroic action," Captain Stephen Hajdasz told ABC News Thursday. "It's great when people rally together [and] look out for each other. That's how everyone gets out OK."
The department got a 911 call reporting the house fire around 5:54 p.m. Tuesday and Bloomfield police arrived within minutes of that call, Hajdasz said. Before they arrived, however, an off-duty firefighter from a neighboring town and an off-duty emergency responder reached the fire and together with neighbors pushed a ladder up the two-story home to save the residents.
With smoke billowing from the windows, rescuers used the ladder to help resident Theodore "Teddy" Rice, who was stuck on the roof.
"I've never seen a fire so intense and travel so fast. Nothing there is recognizable anymore," Rice told ABC News Thursday.
Officer Nicholas Hood's bodycam captured the daring moments.
"Is there anybody else in the house?" one man could be heard shouting, as the team helped Rice climb down.
Gloria Cook, a neighbor, said she'd heard screams for help outside her kitchen window just before 6 p.m. Tuesday and had called 911 when she saw the blaze.
"It was horrific," Cook said.
She said she saw Rice's son open a window.
"Smoke poured out! Then I saw his son jump out," she told ABC News Thursday.
She said she planned to start a GoFundMe page for the family.
"It's just amazing," she said of the joint rescue. "Everyone really got it together to save them."
All four residents as well as the dog made it out, officials said. They said oxygen was administered to one resident. She and another resident were taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation, officials said.
"I'm so grateful for the job they did," Rice said. "I can't thank them enough. I just thank the Lord for doing what they did."
Hajdasz said the fire marshal had determined that a faulty power strip, whose electric sparks had spread to a couch, was the cause of the blaze.
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