North Greenbush fire victim identified

NORTH GREENBUSH, N.Y. (NEWS10)- Johanna Giordano, 84, has been identified by the North Greenbush Police Department as the victim of Sunday's fire at 30 Brinker Drive South. Giordano remains in critical condition at a burn center in Syracuse.

The fire was reported at around 5:40 p.m. with initial reports of an elderly person trapped inside. Giordano was pulled out of the burning house by neighbors as 911 was being called.

“The neighbors’ actions are nothing short of heroic. They entered the house with no equipment and faced incredible smoke and heat, yet they were able to find her and get her out of the house where she could be attended to by EMS,” North Greenbush Police Chief David Keevern told NEWS10.

“We don’t condone people putting themselves at risk unnecessarily, but this is one of those situations where time was of the essence, and it resulted in giving this woman a chance to survive.”

Several of Giordano's neighbors broke windows and doors to get to her. “I happen to be the closest one to the doors there to grab her and I was trying to pull around, but she was pinned between the table and chairs so I was having a hard time, I called to my neighbor here Bob, he came in, we grabbed her, we pulled her out to the lawn, then the paramedics got her into the ambulance and she took off,” said a neighbor off-camera.

North Greenbush Police said the cause of the fire is still being investigated. However, they said it's believed to be accidental.