A Rochester firefighter is being credited for saving a young mother and her infant child from their burning home overnight. Firefighter Roberto Cabrera plucked the two from the third floor of the burning home on Glendale Park around midnight.

"We had to pull people because everything - the fire was pushing our guys out of the house, and we had a report of people trapped on the third floor," said Deputy Fire Chief, Bill Curran.

Curran says veteran firefighter Roberto Cabrera was the first to hear screams from the third floor of 75 Glendale Park. There, the 22-year-old mother and her 2-month old son were seen hanging out of the window of the burning home.

"We didn't even know anybody was up there,” said Cabrera. “We heard the screaming and I think we were probably like third in so basically we just heard screaming and we reacted."

Cabrera used a ladder to reach the woman and child.

“The mom was holding the baby out and gave the baby to the firefighter and she said to the firefighter 'I’m going to die here' and he says 'no you're not' so he had the baby in one arm and her in the other arm," said Curran.

"I tried to calm her down the best I could,” said Cabrera. “She did feel like it was going to be over, she handed me the baby, I said 'no, you've got to come out with me it's both of us, just come out, you're going to make it, just take it easy' and she helped out a lot, the mom was pretty good."

With the mother in one hand and the baby in the other, Cabrera struggled to stay on the ladder. “It was difficult to balance, especially when you've got both of them, we had help it was teamwork."

Cabrera eventually handed the infant to another firefighter below him. Curran says Cabrera's actions were heroic and he credits him with saving the pair.
"I credit him with you know, talking her, you know because she was kind of resisting coming out the window so I do not know if she had any height issues or ladder issues, but he made sure she was not going to be left there."

"It obviously makes me feel good,” said Cabrera. “Because we were able to get to lives out and you know, I just feel real good about that I guess, that is what our job is.

Firefighters are calling the blaze suspicious. The exact cause is still under investigation.

Monroe County Fire Wire