by JOHN ANNESE
Great Kills resident Robin Lucey was lucky that off-duty firefighters were driving in her neighborhood. And so was her cat. The feline, a 17-year-old mixed-breed named Dime, was saved from Mrs. Lucey's burning townhouse at 50 Yacht Club Cove. Mrs. Lucey wasn't home at the time. The electrical fire comes just months after she lost her husband, James, in a New Jersey car wreck. The blaze, which is not considered suspicious, started in the third-floor crawl space of the townhouse at about 3:30 p.m. and caused extensive damage, Division 8 Deputy Chief James Leonard said. As firefighters worked on dousing remnants of the blaze, Mrs. Lucey cradled Dime, who shedded heavily in her arms. "He's upset. That's what cats do when they're upset," she said. Two off-duty firefighters -- Tom Gerrish, 41, of Ladder Co. 77 in Stapleton, and Mike Egan, 39, of Ladder Co.169 in Brooklyn -- spotted smoke from the fire as they were Tottenville-bound on Hylan Boulevard. They made a quick U-turn, then ran to the townhouse complex to see if anyone needed help. Joseph Caleca, 18, of Great Kills, a volunteer firefighter with the Metropolitan Fire Association who also pulled into the complex when he saw the smoke, pointed them to Mrs. Lucey's house. "We just took the door and went in," Egan said. They found Dime in an upstairs bedroom. "He was on the bed. He was just resting. He was calm," Egan said. Mrs. Lucey, 60, a former staffer for several Island Republicans, said the fire damage to the house pales in comparison to the death of her husband on Nov. 15 after his car crashed into a tree on the Garden State Parkway. After the fire, City Councilman Andrew Lanza (R-South Shore), state Assemblyman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) and one of Lanza's staff members arrived to check on Mrs. Lucey. Lanza said he planned to issue a proclamation praising the off-duty firefighters. "These guys were the difference. They saved the cat," he said, adding that their quick thinking likely prevented the fire from the townhouses abutting Mrs. Lucey's. "It's just proof positive again that firefighters are a breed apart," he said. "I have no doubt that they saved four houses here."
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