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Off-duty EMT pulls man from apartment building on fire

He ran into a building filled with smoke and helped rescue an elderly man; he also treated a woman for smoke inhalation

HANOVER, Mass. — An off-duty EMT at the scene of a fire helped treat a 71-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman before firefighters arrived.

John Murray was outside with his children when he heard fire alarms and saw smoke coming from a Hanover Woods apartment building, the Patriot Ledger reports.

He ran into the building and found an elderly man lying in the doorway, Deputy Fire Chief Barbara Stone said.

“He was conscious, but he was having trouble breathing,” she said.

Murray, along with police officer Mike Pollack, got the man out of the building and treated him until firefighters arrived. Murray also helped treat a woman in the apartment building above who was coughing from smoke inhalation.

Both were transported to South Shore Hospital.

Firefighters found heavy smoke in the apartment, and used a dry chemical fire extinguisher to put out a fire in an oven.