Police rescue three from house fire in Riverhead
Riverhead police helped rescue three people from a fast-moving house fire on Newton Avenue on Monday evening, authorities said.
Responding to a 911 call, police officers John Dahlem, William Leonardi and Matthew Suprina, as well as Sgt. Guiseppe Rosini, found the home engulfed in flames and heavy smoke.
They quickly located one resident near the front door, who told them of two others, a man and a woman, trapped inside. Without protective gear, the officers tried to enter the house but were forced to retreat in the face of thick, blinding smoke and flames, officials said.
The female victim was pulled out through a front bedroom window. Next, the officers and Sgt. Rosini moved to the rear of the house, where they pulled the third victim out through a rear bedroom window.
Meanwhile, at the Riverhead Fire Dept., firefighters heard one of the officers on a police scanner reporting an active fire, and sprung into action, according to police officer Rob Sproston, who is also a volunteer firefighter and sustained second-degree burns to his right ear in Monday’s fire. Mr. Sproston had finished his police shift Monday afternoon and went to the firehouse for his volunteer shift there.
Along with firefighters Justin Barry, Frank Greenwood and others, Mr. Sproston rushed through the front door with a firehose into heavy black smoke. He said that the fire appeared to be burning towards the back of the home.
“I could see a glow about 10 feet in, but it was coming from down low,” he said in an interview on Tuesday morning.
All three victims were treated for smoke inhalation at the scene and released, according to authorities.
The cause of the fire was “unattended cooking,” according to Riverhead Fire Marshal Andrew Smith.
Tracy Majewski, whose father Joseph Majewski was one of the three people rescued and owns the home, said on Tuesday that her father is okay and is staying with her.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to support the Majewski family.
Mr. Sproston said his police colleagues did an “amazing job.
“It’s times like these where seconds count, and they were there and they did their job.”
Mr. Sproston said he had thought he’d put his hood on properly beneath his fire helmet, but that “it just must have been open a sliver,” and as a result his right ear was burned.
Mr. Sproston, one of two people taken to Stonybrook Hospital for treatment following the fire, said he was initially reluctant to go to the hospital, but thought better of it.
“It’s just kind of an ego kick, leaving in an ambulance,” he said. “I could have bit the bullet and just suffered it, but there’s no need for that. I’d rather do the right thing and get it right.”
He was met at the hospital by his father, volunteer firefighter Bill Sproston, and 2nd Assistant Chief Sean Brennan.
The younger Mr. Sproston had good reason to get checked out. This was not his first trip to Stonybrook for an on-the-job injury.
In March, 2020 he was involved in an active pursuit in Calverton when his squad car, with its emergency lights flashing, was involved in a collision with another vehicle. Mr. Sproston’s car spun off the road and into a chain-linked fence.
He was impaled by a fence pole that went into his right cheek and came out on the other side of his face — shattering his jaw and costing him six teeth. The injury blocked his airway and he barely survived, desperately fighting for breath as he bled.
Mr. Sproston spent a month at Stony Brook and another three weeks in physical rehabilitation before eventually returning to work in the fall of 2021.
After agreeing to be interviewed, the U.S. Marine reservist shrugged off his injury.
“We train for this … I understood [the risks] when I signed up for the job,” he said. “That is a big factor. You’re going into a home that’s on fire, and if you get burned — whatever — it’s just another fire.”
Dozens of other Riverhead firefighters responded alongside Mr. Sproston to the fire, as did the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps and firefighters from nearby departments, according to police officials. Ms. Majewski also thanked Riverhead police officer Tim Murphy for being “extremely helpful” to her family.
Newly-appointed Riverhead Police Chief Ed Frost said in a statement that he was thankful for “the quick response and actions of the officers involved.
“Their actions definitely saved lives. I am grateful that no one was seriously injured. I would expect nothing else from the members of the police department.”
