M.J. Delehanty Medal

Firefighter Christopher R. Mandeville Rescue Company 1

September 8, 2005, 0252 hours, Box 44-1312, 964 Amsterdam Avenue, Manhattan

Appointed to the FDNY on July 9, 1995. Previously assigned to Engine Company 84, Squad Company 61 and Ladder Company 40. Cousins, James Hodgens, is assigned to Squad Company 41 and Bo Hodgens, is assigned to Engine Company 59. Member of the Holy Name Society, Steuben Association, NYC Fire Riders and the FD Marine Corps League. Active U.S. Navy Reserve corpsman attached to the USMC Fleet Marine Force 4th Medical Battalion. Cited on four previous occasions. Resides in Walden, New York.

It was close to three in the morning when the alert tones shattered the silence of the firehouse. As the computer-generated voice echoed special unit over the PA system, FF Christopher Mandeville already was headed for the apparatus. As Rescue Company 1 raced uptown to an alarm for a structural fire, FF Mandeville put aside his recollections of a fire he had fought earlier in the evening and his thoughts about an upcoming hunting trip to focus on the announcements coming from the Department radio. The dispatcher advised that numerous phone calls were being received reporting people trapped on the upper floors of a non-fireproof multiple dwelling.

Just minutes after leaving the firehouse, Rescue 1 arrived on the scene. FF Mandeville advanced down the block and, as he did so, mentally sized up the building. He observed an extremely heavy smoke condition pushing from the upper floors and blowing over the top of a six-story apartment house. Many residents were self-evacuating from all floors via the fire escapes.

As the members of Rescue 1 entered the building, the lobby was full of panicked children and elderly adults who were fleeing a fire that was burning in the entire stairwell and all the public halls. Debris had fallen on the staircase and several steps were missing, burned away by the intense blaze.

Shortly after their arrival, FFs Mandeville and Cummins were directed to rescue a victim from the fifth floor via the front fire escape. FF Sean Cummins proceeded to the fifth floor as FF Mandeville started past the black smoke emanating from a window on the fourth floor. While doing so, he could hear a faint voice coming from somewhere inside one of the residences. An elderly man came out and FF Mandeville inquired if anyone else was inside. However, the gentleman did not speak English, so the Firefighter decided it would be best to check additional apartments for any remaining occupants.

FF Mandeville moved to the nearby windows. Rather than trying to force the gates on one, he broke the glass on another, entered through the window and commenced a search, making his way to the front door. Reaching the door, he found it buckled and distorted due to the fire and heat; it had to be forced open.

Once he was in the flaming public hall, FF Mandeville heard an additional cry for help and immediately forced the door to an adjacent unit. Entering the flat, he found himself in an environment charged with inky black smoke. Without hesitating, he dropped to his knees and crawled forward.

Halfway through the living room, he located a semi-conscious woman. He grabbed her as best he could and, probing his way through the smoke, advanced toward the window. When FF Mandeville, with his victim in tow, made it to the window, not only was it secured with a gate, but two older women were huddled in a corner gasping for breath. Their desperate efforts to open the gate’s locking mechanism had failed.

FF Mandeville took charge, forcibly removed  the gate from the wall, opened the window and passed the three victims to members of Ladder Company 22, who were on the fire escape. The women were taken to the hospital for treatment and one was admitted with a respiratory condition and burns.

FF Mandeville operated at an incident that eventually took the life of one civilian and injured several others. Four alarms were required to bring the fire under control. During that time, he took quick and decisive action to perform the rescue of three people who surely would have perished.
For his courage in entering a dangerous and fast-moving fire condition without the benefit of a charged hose-line to save the lives of others, the M.J. Delehanty Medal is presented to Firefighter  Christopher R. Mandeville.—BDG

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