A Long Island firefighter has died after he was critically injured while battling a house fire on Long Island last week, officials say.
Joseph Sanford Jr., a 17-year veteran of the Inwood Fire Department, suffered cardiac arrest after officials believe the first floor of a house in Woodmere collapsed early last Friday morning, causing him to fall to the basement.
"The large amount of smoke, it was very possible he got disoriented and very possibly gotten separated from his partner," said Woodmere Fire Chief Leonard Cherson.
Sanford was found after an alert device signaled to his fellow firefighters that he was down. The alert, known as a PASS alarm, is activated when a firefighter has been motionless for too long.
He was resuscitated with CPR and rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
He never regained consciousness after the fire, said Inwood Fire Chief Anthony Rivelli. Sanford was taken off a ventilator at North Shore University Hospital Tuesday and died.
-- Greg Cergol contributed to this report.
