Cable worker rescues tot from fire

CARTHAGE —An employee of Wells Communications became a family's hero here shortly after noon Tuesday by rescuing a 21-month-old girl from a smoke-filled second-floor bedroom.

After the child's mother and two neighbors were turned back by the smoke, Wells Communications technician Jared M. McNitt, 31, Ellisburg, used a ladder from his company truck to reach a rear bedroom window at 467 N. Washington St., according to Jefferson County fire investigator Daniel M. Leary. He reached in, grabbed Skarlette Bernal and carried her down to her grateful mother, Amanda J. Bernal.

Carthage Ambulance was summoned to administer to the child and one of the neighbors, Julie Darden, for smoke inhalation. Skarlette was admitted to Carthage Area Hospital for observation, Mr. Leary said.

Mr. McNitt was working outside the house, installing cable in a project in which Wells is a subcontractor for Time Warner Cable, Mr. Leary said. After Mrs. Bernal, who was downstairs, discovered there was a fire, she attempted to go upstairs to rescue her daughter but was turned back by the smoke, Mr. Leary said. Ronald and Mrs. Darden then tried, but also were turned back, he said. Mr. McNitt also tried the stairs before going for his ladder.

Skarlette had been put down for a nap about 20 minutes before the blaze, attributed to an electrical short circuit, broke out in the wall of an upstairs bedroom, a different room from that occupied by the girl, Mr. Leary said.

Fortunately, all doors of the upstairs rooms were closed, inhibiting spread of the blaze, he said.

Fire companies from Carthage, West Carthage, Great Bend, Black River and Fort Drum responded to the noon alarm, and found smoke concentrated in the upper level of the 467-69 N. Washington St. duplex. The fire was confined to the upstairs bedroom, and two ground floor rooms sustained smoke and water damage. There also was smoke and heat damage in the other half of the structure, the Darden residence.

The cable installation was not linked to the outbreak of flames, Mr. Leary said.

"I am so very proud of Jared," said his employer, Tony Wells, Syracuse. "He is quiet, kind of shy, and just does his job. I'm glad that he kept his head, and I'm thrilled with him and that we were in the right place at the right time."

Mr. McNitt has been with the company a little more than a year, Mr. Wells said.

The duplex has been owned since 2005 by Steven S. Clima, who is on active military duty in Alabama, Mr. Leary said. It was not determined whether the property is insured, but the Carlos Bernal family, with five other children, ages 11, 10, 5 and two 4-year-olds, does not have renter's insurance.