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Miranda Leitsinger / NBC News
Joe Adinolfi, an off-duty firefighter, rescued nine people from 5 feet floodwaters and a raging fire when Hurricane Sandy struck his tiny seaside community of Breezy Point, N.Y., on Monday night.
BREEZY POINT, N.Y. -- A raging fire was creeping closer and closer to Joe Adinolfi’s home when he decided to get out.
He packed his phone and wallet into a life vest, since there was also about 5 feet of standing water outside his home due to Hurricane Sandy, and thought he would try to reach a refuge within his tiny seaside community of Breezy Point in New York City.
But then he heard a cry for help from the parking lot in front of his home.
“I heard people out there in the parking I couldn’t see calling for help, and when I got over there, closer, I saw it was these elderly women,” said Adinolfi, a father of three girls who was off-duty from his work as a firefighter that Monday night when the storm struck.
Adinolfi, 48, waded into the waist-high water around 10 p.m. where he found three women clutching onto the back of a SUV, one holding so tightly onto a kennel with several small dogs that her hands were bleeding. The women also had an African Grey Parrot.
“They were crying, ‘please help me,’” he recalled them saying. He replied, “’I’m coming ladies. We’re going to get to my house, don’t you worry.’”
Adinolfi took the cages and led the women back to his home. The dogs bit at his left hand – and he has the bite marks to prove it.
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“You had to see the dogs and I was carrying that thing, they were like half underwater swimming in this cage. But we got’em all out,” he quipped.
The rescue didn’t end there: One of the women told him about her autistic brother, who was clinging to a nearby fence with his Spanish-speaking aide standing in the water. Next to them, there was a mother with her two adult daughters and one of the girl’s boyfriends.
PhotoBlog: Panoramic view of Breezy Point destruction after Hurricane Sandy fire and flood
Adinolfi made trips back and forth for about an hour through the ocean water, which he recalled thinking felt warmer than he thought it would.
The group dried off at his house and hunkered down there for two hours. One of the women with her mother, Joanne Lepera, said the elderly women were somber, devastated that their homes had been lost to the fire.
As the fire raged closer to Adinolfi’s two-story home, the group left for another friend’s house. He eventually left them and went to another home, where he stayed the night.
David Friedman / NBC News
Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast.
Adinolfi modestly recounted the tale on Thursday as he walked through his devastated community, saying, “that was it, that’s my story.” He also chided himself for staying back after his family left, noting it was “foolish.” He had done so to try and prevent flooding in his home, though his basement ultimately filled up with water.
As he passed his neighbors with a reporter, they called him a hero. He lightheartedly brushed that off, though Lepera said he deserved the moniker. She said that when Adinolfi came by waving a flashlight, he told them that he was a firefighter and that their house could be under threat from the blaze since the wind was shifting.
“He was walking through cold water to try to save other people, which is not easy especially with the high, high winds,” Lepera, a 28-year-old dental assistant, said by phone, adding that the family had been debating whether they should leave. “He was extremely calm. He didn’t seem like there was like any stress on him. He was just trying to help a neighbor out in need.”
PhotoBlog: Devastating fire follows flooding in Breezy Point, Queens
The storm delivered two punishing blows to this community founded more than a century ago by Irish immigrants. First it sent floodwaters roaring through its streets and into its homes, then sparked an inferno that claimed more than 100 houses -- including the Lepera home -- nestled side-by-side on tiny lanes of sand.
At the parking lot where Adinolfi made the rescues, one car bore the water marks of being almost completely submerged. There also remained the white SUV the elderly women clung to. But Adinolfi insisted he wasn’t a hero.
"That was nothing, really, it wasn’t. Just leading them over there,” he said. But he softly added, “I hate to think what would have happened to them.”
Comments? Questions? Email the reporter at miranda.leitsinger@msnbc.com
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Leave a Comment:
Good job, guy.
Now this guy deserves a good table dance and a cold beer, right ladies?
You go right ahead, Doc, in his honor.
Thank God there wasn't a Nursing Home, Orphanage and an Animal Shelter across the street... he would have been up all night! I'm sure every Hero has at some point muttered under their breath, "Oh... not again"!
Tank, well there was a nursing home, animal shelter and an orphanage across the street from Somewhere. Let's hope they all survived.
I doubt there was any muttering. Fire fighters are happy to do what they can to help others, animals included.
Good to hear about guys like this. To those who are stabbing people at gas stations and to any looters (thieves) that might be reading, this guy is an example of how you are supposed to act in a crisis. Good job Mr. Adinolfi.
I'd shake his hand and buy him dinner and a beer. That, my friends, is a hero allright.
Gwad! I love stories like this. Good guy! Good Guy!
Every hero says, "I'm not a hero, it was nothing..." But the fact is - firefighter for emphasis - this guy would have done whatever was necessary. We see right thru ya, Joe! Nice work!
Tank Carson,
I agree.
Something tells me that if there *was* a nursing home across the street, this guy would have waded back and forth a hundred times--a million times--and carried person out on his back if need be.
And he wouldn't have stopped until they were all out...or he dropped dead from exhaustion.
That's the way it is with heroes like this. Their own safety and well-being immediately go to the back-burner.
Once this is all over, I hope folks like this (and there were a lot of them...not all made headlines) they're recognized in some way.
Well done, Mr. Adinolfi.
well tank, the true measure of a person is not what they believe, but what they do when it really counts.
and Mr. Adinolfi showed his true measure wonderfully.
Great job! (But why was a firefighter off duty in the middle of a hurricane?)
It seems that the heroes are the ones that don't want the moniker. If he wants it or not, it doesn't matter. Well done!
They do work 24 hrs a day, but not Every day. Do you think they deserve some time off to rest?
Now that is my hero. It is people like this that give me such hope for humanity.....
@ plain bob
Great link roflmao, I have a grey.
No one would have died or needed to be rescued if everyone had evacuated when ordered to do so. It's as simple as that.
All of our first responders are heros daily. It's that simple.
NYFD God bless and protect them all. This guy is a hero as are the rest of his fellow firefighters. In a time when America and NYC needs heroes, these guys always step up and always will. Thank you sir and the NYFD.
I helped a little old lady across the street when I was a boy scout and no one made a big deal about it.
I think New York has a large reserve of heroes from 9/11. The NYFD guys defined the word "heroes".
My African Grey, Shadow, says, "Good Boy!"
God Bless ya' Joe!
Amen!
On the home front, emergency responders ~ fire, EMS, and law enforcement ~ are the truest of heroes. The article said 'off duty' but these dedicated people never are really off duty. They live their commitment.
All that and he's handsome too.
Having said. . . is this the parrot we read about in the first stories out of Breezy Point?
I hope so! I am relieved to hear it is safe.
We do think it's the same parrot in the earlier story! Locations and names match up. From Ocean Avenue. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/01/14842393-wind-flames-our-fathers-the-inside-story-of-breezy-points-terrible-night
hope everything works out for them...so they don't have to relocate to Houston...
Awww he shouldn't chide himself for hanging back after his family left, he was obviously needed by all these people and pets!
Why were they still out there? The storm of the century is coming, people are warned, and yet they don't evacuate.
Evacuating how many millions ... come on man easier said then done.
And they would've gone, where? To the "safe" Holiday Inn? The Hyatt-Regency? Where? Do you think any of those corporatist-owned establishements would've taken people in unless those same corporatist-owned establishments didn't make lots and lots and lots of money for their rich owners? Remember 9/11? People went into Starbucks corporatist-owned establishments to get bottled water for victims. They were told they had to PAY for that water or else face being arrested for stealing.
Rich people better start to learn their place in America. Either they fork out, or they get a fork right in the eye.
Hi, a lot of people had evacuated for Hurricane Irene, which just passed over Breezy Point with little to no impact. So some (a few) thought the talk around Sandy was a lot of hype. Joe said he had his sump pump running to try and protect his basement, though ultimately he had to give up. Another woman I spoke to who stayed said now even the mention of a thunderstorm and she'd get out of dodge.
Normally, I would have chided him for not leaving with his family, but thank goodness he stayed to save so many lives. I love this guy!
Joe, your story made my day! Fantastic job!
Good news about good people needs to be highlighted more often. Kudos for being a standup human being. I would do the same.
Yes you are a hero and don't ever forget it. God Bless
A very brave man!
What a wonderful story !! I have been hearing about all of the people complaining about gas shortages, food shortages and people being just plain nasty to each other. They chose to stay. Stop bitching and lend a hand like this brave man has done. Don't expect FEMA or other government agencies to help. It was your choice. Plan ahead or move.
Joe, your a stud, and you were put there for a reason. God Bless.
Fantastic job, Joe! Your story made my day!
You are amazing Joe - and you are a hero to the people you helped - and to the rest of us who read this story. Thank you!!!!!!!!
Sorry Joe, a hero is a hero and that's exactly what you are, whether you want to admit it or not. Thanks.
God bless you...
Folks; If you know someone in the NE area, please tell them to not use a generator or charcoal in their houses. I have found dead people who simply didn't wake up from the gases. You know, this stuff is hard on emergency workers. Please get the word out somehow. 30 year ff.
That's what firefighters do in emergencies. This was no regular Joe! A hero by any definition! Joseph Adinolfi, good on you Sir! You are a credit to humanity!
Fine, you're not a hero. Angel without wings, maybe, but not a hero. Thoughts and prayers to all.
The world needs way more people like him, and way less people like the jackwagon in Queens who pulled a pistol out after cutting in on a gas line. Joe Adinolfi is a hero, and Sean Bailey the pistol-puller is a punk.
tragedies ALWAYS bring out the best & worst in people. never fails. thank goodness the good, yes you Joe, outnumber the bad.
Sir, you are a hero.
job ridiculously well done. bravo.