NEW HAVEN — One firefighter died and a second was injured early Wednesday while battling a house fire in New Haven.
Officials identified the deceased firefighter as Ricardo “Rico” Torres Jr, who had joined the department less than two years earlier. The second firefighter, Lt. Samod Rankins, is in critical condition at the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital, they said.
Both were pulled, unconscious, from the second floor of a house at 190 Valley St., Fire Chief John Alston said.
By Wednesday afternoon, doctors at Bridgeport Hospital had removed carbon monoxide from Rankins’ lungs, his cousin, Leon Bowman, told the Courant.