Local Firefighter Honored for Heroism

Cynthia Marie Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A Long Island firefighter was honored on Tuesday. Michael Cosgrove responded to a dramatic explosion in March, only to discover that it was his own home. After fighting fires and helping other families for 15 years, he and his family were suddenly the victims.

The Cosgroves have been living in a trailer on their front lawn and life has not been easy. “There’s been some really bad lows and some highs along the way,” says Cosgrove. Tuesday was most certainly one of his very big “highs.”

The insurance giant Liberty Mutual awarded the volunteer firefighter a national honor for valor for his brave actions fighting a fire two years earlier. Selden Fire Chief, Joseph Leavens said, “It was a very heroic thing that he did. It was a few houses from his. Rather than pass the house and come to the fire house he stopped, because he saw somebody was hanging out a window.”

Cosgrove used a painter’s ladder to climb up to the man and reached into the flames to get the man, receiving severe burns. Although the man did not survive, his act of heroism is one that should be remembered. The Selden Fire Department received an award of $10,000, which they are using to better mark the hydrants to ensure they are visible even if buried by the snow. 

As for the Cosgrove family, they are off to Disneyworld. After all that they have been through, that is the least that they deserve. 

cynthiam@longislandyellowpages.com

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