Saugus man rescued from fire

SAUGUS – Two police officers on patrol spotted smoke early Wednesday morning and pulled an 84-year-old man from the burning second floor of his Mount Vernon Street home.Salvatore Cagnina, of 30 Mount Vernon St., suffered smoke inhalation and a laceration to his leg, but was not seriously injured in the fire that completely destroyed his home. The two- alarm blaze broke out at about 1:15 a.m.Joseph Brangiforte lives across the street from Cagnina and said the officers’ shouts woke him up.Officers Paul VanSteensburg and Matthew Donahue were on patrol when they spotted smoke in the Cliftondale Square area. Donahue is a recent transfer from Manchester-by-the-Sea and was out with VanSteensburg as part of his training.Fire Chief James Blanchard said when the officers arrived they spotted Cagnina on the roof of the porch of the three-story Victorian home.”(The fire) was really going good by now,” Blanchard said. “They called it in and said they needed a ladder.”Brangiforte said upon hearing the noise, “I lifted my blinds and saw the house completely on fire.”He then ran in his boxer shorts and bare feet to his back porch, tugged out a 20-foot ladder, and rushed across the street. The officers raised the ladder to the small porch where Cagnina huddled.”One of the officers yelled to me to get a jacket for the gentleman,” Brangiforte said.Both Blanchard and Police Lt. Michael Annese called Brangiforte a hero, as well as VanSteensburg and Donahue.Police Chief Domenic DiMella also said he couldn’t be prouder and that the men absolutely went above and beyond the call of duty.Annese said it was lucky the officers were on patrol in the neighborhood. Had it been a busier night, they could easily have been miles away on Route 1 and not seen the smoke.The cause of the fire is still under investigation but Blanchard said it doesn’t appear to be suspicious.Cagnina was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where he was being treated for smoke inhalation Wednesday afternoon. Blanchard called him very lucky.He said Cagnina was woken up by the noise of the fire and although he saw smoke and flames, was confused and didn’t know how to escape.”But he saw a light and went toward the light because he knew there must be a window if there was a light,” Blanchard said. “He found the window and crawled out onto the roof. The light he saw was the street light outside his house.”Blanchard said Cagnina’s neighbors were also lucky. With an even larger three story Victorian next door and 30-mph winds, Capt. Donald Shea struck a second alarm. Fire companies from Lynn, Melrose and Wakefield helped train lines on the neighboring home to keep it from going up in flames.While the family will be able to salvage mementos from the home, Blanchard said it is a total loss. Brangiforte said the fire is the second loss his neighbor sustained this month. He said Cagnina’s wife died about three weeks ago.