PITTSBURGH, Pa. — A Korean War veteran trapped in a burning home can credit two Pittsburgh police officers in the right place at the right time for saving his life.
A chair caught fire in Gilbert Cordero's Hazelwood home, and his son Carl grabbed a hoe and used it to pull the chair outside through a door.
"It didn't take long for the house to catch on fire," Carl Cordero said. "Wood frame house. Very old house. Went up real quick."
Another of Gilbert's sons managed to get him just about out of the Second Avenue house when the 87-year-old man froze.
“I guess my dad went into shock or something and he couldn't move no more,” said Carl Cordero.
That's when officers Steve McGouldrick and Devon Koontz, a police recruit with only five weeks of field training, heard Cordero's son shouting.
McGouldrick entered the back of the smoke-filled home, Kootnz the front, police said. Once inside, they found Gilbert Cordero's son, and Koontz and the son rushed into the hallway to pull Cordero outside to safety.
WPXI news reporter Erin Clarke just finished interviewing the son of an 87-year-old Korean War veteran pulled from his burning Hazelwood house Thursday night.
“Lucky they were there. I thank them,” said Carl Cordero.
That man and the Koontz were treated for smoke inhalation at the hospital.
“They did a fantastic job,” Zone 4 Sgt. Gino Perri said. “They had to make a split-second decision and everything turned out well as a result.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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“It's gone. There's really nothing left upstairs. Everything's just done,” said CJ Cordero.
Among the charred remains of his grandfather's home, CJ Cordero found a photo album of his grandfather -- a young Gilbert Cordero during the Korean War.
“... This happened to be in there and it wasn't touched,” he said. “This is when he was in the services.”