A man is alive today thanks to the bravery of 2 Quincy officers. Here's how they saved him

QUINCY – In the early-morning hours, two Quincy police officers were the first to arrive at the scene of a house fire on Rodman Street in West Quincy.

Officers Sean Fitzgerald and Mike Brokmeier pulled up to the two-family home within seconds of each other and saw a young family out on the street, barefoot, the mother holding a newborn, the father beckoning frantically toward the house. The man living in the opposite unit was still inside.

In a daring rescue, the officers entered the home and pulled the man from the smoke-filled kitchen as flames overwhelmed the building Aug. 29.

Fitzgerald and Brokmeier received special commendations from Quincy Police Chief Mark Kennedy last week in recognition of their bravery in saving the man's life.

The rescue: a hot doorknob, fear of a backdraft, a sledgehammer and lots of smoke

"It's the first time in my career I touched a hot doorknob," Fitzgerald said.

Brokmeier said it wasn't the first time he's responded to a fire alarm, but it was the first time in his career he's had to rescue someone from a burning home.

"It's usually food on the stove," he said.

When Fitzgerald touched the doorknob at the front door, he said he knew they couldn't go in that way. He and Brokmeier then walked along the bushes in front of a bay window and looked in.

"It was like a glow through the glass," Brokmeier said.

He said they retrieved breaching tools from the cruiser and went to the back door, where the smoke and heat were less intense, to force an entry.

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Brokmeier hit the door with a sledgehammer and, fearing a backdraft, positioned his face and body as far to the side of the door frame as possible, he said.

"I didn't want to be the cop without any eyebrows for the next month," he said.

Once the officers entered the home, they stayed low to avoid the smoke pouring toward them. They found the resident standing in the kitchen in a state of confusion, inhaling smoke. The sound of the sledgehammer had awakened him.

At first the man thought the officers were intruders breaking into his house.

"I was yelling, 'Come to me! Come to me!" Brokmeier said. "As soon as he was close enough to me, I grabbed him. He was confused. He'd been in a dead sleep."

The officers pulled the man out before anyone suffered serious injury. One side of the home was left charred and significantly damaged.

"He maybe had another minute or two," Fitzgerald said. "You can replace stuff, but you can't replace people."

Brokmeier and Fitzgerald said they both inhaled smoke that night.

"By the time I got into bed that night, my head was throbbing," Brokmeier said. "I smelled (smoke) in my nose for a couple of days."

"We had to wash (the smoke) out of all our clothes, everything," Fitzgerald said. "I had a mild headache and cough for a day."

A fully staffed department makes for quicker response times

Fitzgerald said Quincy police have exceptionally fast response times because the city prioritizes public safety by keeping the department fully staffed.

"There were plenty of cars on the street to respond quickly," he said. "That made a difference in this situation. It was a close call for that gentleman who we got out."

Fitzgerald and Brokmeier credited Quincy firefighters for knocking the fire down quickly and preventing it from spreading to neighboring homes. The neighborhood is densely populated with single- and two-family homes, Fitzgerald said.

"A great job by them as well," he said.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Two Quincy police officers honored for rescuing man from burning house