In the words of Baltimore's fire chief, Jeff Novack is "a modern-day hero" who "did what we hope all firefighters wil do, and that's put his own life at risk to save others."
To the fire union, Novack (at left, in a phot by The Sun's Kim Hairston), is a poster-child for a policy that endangers lives -- the rotating closure of fire companies to save money.
What Novack did was rush into a burning West Baltimore apartment and resuce an 86-year-old woman, and then he rushed back in to a third floor, up stairs, past flames to save another man trapped in a stairwell. To escape himself, he had to break a window and climb out and hang by his fingertips three stories above the ground.
Finally, he had to let go.
The fire had melted his geard. Doctors at Maryland Shock Trauma Center put him into a medically induced coma. Now, he's recovering, and set to testify in the trial of a woman who prosecutors set the April 7 blaze to get back at her boyfriend for having an affair.
But what makes this story even more troubling is that the fire union says that because of the rotating closures, Novack's backup was delayed to the fire on Liberty Heights Avenue. Novack, who rode a truck and was responsible for search and rescues, arrived well before the engines that have water.
Novack went inside the burning home without backup.
And that has made him not just a hero but a rallying point against further budget cuts. Fire Chief Clack told the Baltimore Sun's Julie Scharper: "I think we're operating at the very edge of what's safe right now."