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by BEN EBEN NEWHOUSE
A smoky, two-alarm blaze burned from the basement to the roof of a Meiers Corners home yesterday, devastating the couple who had lived there for a quarter-century.
Ed Pleffner and his wife, Eileen, of 168 Mountainview Ave. were unharmed, but a firefighter from Engine Co. 165 in New Dorp injured his lower back and was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.
Deputy Fire Chief John Danbury of Battalion 22 said the fire, which took 45 minutes to extinguish, did extensive damage throughout the brick house. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Pleffner had just sat down at about 2:30 p.m. to watch the latest TV news on the new pope over lunch when he heard a smoke alarm in the basement.
He went downstairs and tried to reach his fire extinguisher, but he was blocked by a wall of smoke and a blast of heat.
Later, standing outside in his stocking feet on a sidewalk muddied by opened fire hydrants, Pleffner explained he had only enough time to run upstairs for his heart medication, leaving his shoes behind.
His wife was on the porch when the fire erupted.
Pleffner said that after he made his escape, three off-duty firefighters from the neighborhood arrived, seemingly out of nowhere. They called 911 and cleared a path behind the house to the basement, attacking the fire with his garden hose. Neither Pleffner nor Danbury knew the identities of the Good Samaritans.
Fittingly, on the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, Rescue Co. 5, its truck undergoing routine maintenance, responded with the heavy rescue unit donated to the city by Oklahomans after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The truck bears the names of three city police officers and seven firefighters, including Lt. Michael Esposito of Eltingville, who responded to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, and died in the World Trade Center.
The "Spirit of Oklahoma" happened to be carrying Michael Esposito's brother Joe, a firefighter in Rescue 5.
Although the vehicle is operated by all city Rescue companies when needed as a backup truck, Joe Esposito said it was his first time using it.
He said Rescue 5 was proud to have the rig, which he called a "symbol of what the FDNY stands for."
As for whether being aboard made him think about his brother, Joe Esposito said it was no more than any fire truck does.
"I think about him every day," he said.
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