Police officer francis lasala
emergency service unit
January 10, 1987
On a cold dark, winter night, in 1987, Police Officer Francis LaSala rushed into a fire
at an occupied apartment house near Squad 1 Quarters. Donning an air pack,
he rushed inside the burning building to awaken the sleeping residents.
Fighting thick smoke and overwhelming heat, Officer LaSala advanced through the hallways and up the stairs.
But then he was trapped in a fire-ball, called a flash-over, and the fallen officer was discovered unresponsive
in the charred stairwell with his lost air-pak alongside. With life-threatening burns, he was taken to the
Cornell Burn Center, where he died five days later on the 10th of January.
The heroic efforts of Officer LaSala and his team allowed the lives of a dozen tenants to be saved.
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