Camden cops make daring housefire rescue

THE SMOKE billowing out of the home on an isolated Camden street was too thick, too strong for anyone to reach the family trapped inside.

There was no time to think: The police officers who raced to the scene had to act immediately to save the 25-year-old woman and her two kids.

"Jump!" they shouted to the trio, trapped near a second-story window.

And jump they did, their leap of faith ending in the outstretched arms of a group of Camden County Police officers.

"They all showed incredible bravery," Capt. Deiter Tunstall said at a news conference with those officers last night. "They did a wonderful job keeping that family safe."

Last night, the woman and her children - a 4-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl - remained in the burn unit at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Chester, Pa., in critical but stable condition, police said.

The blaze broke out in their home on Atlantic Avenue near 8th Street about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Tunstall said.

Although the cause is still being investigated, preliminary evidence indicates the fire was sparked by a Christmas tree in the home's living room, Tunstall said.

Whatever started the fire, it spread quickly, with huge plumes of smoke filling the home and forcing the family to seek refuge on its second floor.

It was about that time that Tyree Glover, 32, got pulled away from the video game he was playing with his brother a few doors down by the panicked screams and sounds of shattering glass coming from outside.

"There was a bunch of chaos out there," Glover, a Philly resident visiting his brother's pad for the holiday, said last night.

When Glover ran outside, he saw a crowd of people screaming, rushing frantically to get the attention of two nearby officers.

"People kept screaming, 'There are kids in there,' " Glover said. "The cops swarmed, but the smoke was too thick. They came out gasping."

One of the first cops on the scene was Officer Sean McMahon, who was flagged down by neighbors while on patrol with his partner, Officer Aaron Roselli.

The two forced their way inside the home and found the smoke "overwhelming," McMahon said last night.

"We couldn't make it halfway up the stairwell," he added.

The conditions were so bad that another responding officer, Nicholas Marchiafava, collapsed and had to be taken to Cooper University Hospital for smoke inhalation, police said. He was treated and released later that day and is home "doing well with his family," Tunstall said.

When the officers ventured back outside, a neighbor handed them fire extinguishers, which they used in an attempt to suppress the flames, McMahon said.

By that point, however, the fire was too strong. Instead, the officers told the family to head toward the home's rear window and wait for help.

As they relayed those instructions, a group of seven other officers who had arrived on the scene ran to the rear of the home.

That's where they formed a circle, locking their arms together, and caught the residents one-by-one as they made their daring escape.

"Our instincts just kicked in," McMahon, 24, said of the rescue. "Any incident with kids involved makes you want to help out any way you can."

The officers credited the swift action of the neighbors on the block in saving the family, as well as the quick response by the Fire Department and medics.

Last night, all was quiet on Atlantic Avenue, a stark contrast to the chaos that Tyree Glover had seen just a day earlier.

"I'm just happy those kids are safe," he said. "A house is a material thing. You can get that again.

"Just as long as the kids are safe - that's the big picture."