Off-duty firefighter saves family from burning home

WARWICH, R.I. (WJAR) – There was an intense fire on Goddard Street in Providence on Sunday night.

“Everybody was screaming. There was a big commotion,” said Deputy Chief Mike Mernick, a 28-year Warwick firefighter who was off-duty and drove by with his wife after getting dinner.

“And everybody was saying that there’s kids on the third floor. There’s kids on the third floor,” he said. “I parked and I said to my wife, ‘I’ll be right back.’”

Mernick said he dropped everything, including his New York System wiener, a Rhode Island variety of hot dog, to help.

“The officer said, ‘You got to get out of here,’ and I said, ‘I’m a firefighter,’” he said.

Cell phone video shows flames pouring out from the windows of the three-story home with no engine in sight or sound.

Mernick said he ran in with two police officers at his side. They went up two flights of smoke-filled stairs, where they found a mom and two kids.

“There was a child on the bed sleeping, and I grabbed that child up and handed him to the officer. And I looked back and I realized there was another child there on the mat on the floor,” he said.

Eight people in all escaped with their lives, an amazing save.

“Everybody’s accounted for, and that’s when I knew I could have more hot dogs,” Mernick said.

He credits his training for his quick thinking, as well as the love of the job and a potentially life-saving late-night craving.

“I have less time. I have to go faster. I have to be quicker,” Mernick said. “It’s a very difficult job, but it’s the greatest job in the world.”

When asked what he thought when he heard the word “hero” being thrown around, Mernick said, “I think heroes are people that do extraordinary things that they’re not necessarily trained to do. This just happened to be good timing, and everybody’s safe, and I’m grateful for that.”