Good Samaritan Puts Out Home Fire
TSA Weekly
By Rose Ann Groach, Executive Assistant, and Brett O’Neil, Customer Support and Quality Improvement Manager, Buffalo Niagara (N.Y.) International Airport
TSO Steve Avino Photo courtesy of TSA Buffalo Niagara
For seven years TSO Steve Avino has been protecting air travelers at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. But a few weeks ago he stepped outside the public arena and stepped up to help a local homeowner.
As Avino drove by a house one morning, he noticed flames coming from the rear. At first glance, the off-duty TSO thought the flames were coming from a grill, but when he backed his car up and looked again he realized they were coming from an enclosed patio.
Avino pounded on the house door and called the Fire Department on his cell phone before grabbing a garden hose to douse the fire. Damage from the fire, which started in a flower box packed with mulch, was estimated at up to $500. No one was in the house at the time of the fire.
"If Avino had not taken the steps he did, the enclosed patio attached to the house would have been [in flames] before anyone noticed," Fire Chief David Szczudlik told the Alden Advertiser. "Another 15 minutes, the whole structure would have gone up."
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