Public Employee Press

Traffic workers save lives in a Bronx building fire

Any way you slice it Traffic Device Maintainers Paul Riccio and Miguel Velez are heroes, but you won’t be able to convince them. “We did what we had to do,” said Riccio, a member of Traffic Employees Local 1455.

What Riccio and Velez did at 8 a.m. June 1 was to spring into action when they saw smoke coming from the window of a five-story walk-up apartment building in the Bronx.

In the process of doing what they felt they had to, they saved a building full of almost 100 residents and the adjacent buildings from a potentially devastating fire.

Riccio and Velez were on their truck working early to install Stop, One-way and Do Not Enter traffic signs on the corner of Olinville and Arnow avenues when they spotted a cloud of thick black smoke coming from a nearby window.

“We ran into the building and banged on every door on every floor telling people to get out of the building,” said Riccio. “Many people were still sleeping.” Heeding the two union members, all of the residents evacuated the building safely.

“We did lose a cat,” he said. “The door to one of the apartments was hot and had smoke coming out the bottom, so I warned the person not to go in.”

Prompted by a cell phone call from Riccio, the Fire Dept. then arrived to get the blaze, which destroyed an entire apartment on the top floor, under control. Once the Firefighters arrived, they quietly went back to work.

“I’m sure that anyone would have responded the same way that we did,” said the modest Velez, who several years ago saved a little girl and a senior citizen from a similar situation.

“These guys are special, like so many of our members and other public employees,” said Local 1455 President Michael DeMarco. “They’re out there on the streets and highways doing their jobs under difficult conditions, but they’re always ready to help others. I’m proud of them.”

— Alfredo Alvarado