SAYVILLE, N.Y. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A good Samaritan saved a teenager on Wednesday from a burning house on Long Island, according to Suffolk County police.
Police received a call at around 2 p.m., reporting a person trapped inside a burning home on Astor Drive in Sayville.
Multiple fire departments and the Town of Islip Fire Marshal responded to the call.
When cops arrived, they found that Richard Mosback, 37, of Sayville, alongside another bystander, a contractor, had already rescued the teenager.
Mosback was looking out his window at around 2 p.m. when he noticed smoke from a house nearby.
Mosback quickly got help by banging on a nearby van's door and told the man inside to call 911. He then fetched a ladder to rescue the teen hanging from a window.
They used a ladder to safely guide the teenager down from a second-floor window because of the intense smoke and flames blocking the front door, police said.
"The windows and the door exploded and smoke was coming out of the window he was leaning out of," Mosback told Newsday. "It was very lucky I looked out the window and saw it and was able to get him out safely."
The family dog was found dead inside the home following the fire, police said.
Mosback was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation sustained during the rescue.
The teenager was not injured and did not require medical assistance.
Suffolk County Police Arson Squad detectives are investigating the cause of the fire, which they do not suspect to be criminal in nature.
