HARMONY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — John Schurko has been delivering packages for FedEx for the last three years. Tuesday night was the first time he’s ever called 911 while on the job.
“I figured that’s what everybody would do,” Schurko told Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek. “I guess lucky, right place, right time.”
It was just after 4 p.m. Tuesday when he was delivering packages on Pioneer Drive in Harmony Township, Beaver County, and smelled smoke.
“That’s not uncommon because the industrial park’s right there,” he said.
But when he got to the porch at one of the homes, he said it smelled like burning cookies.
“I realize it smells like a burning stove,” Schurko said. “I’m like, ‘That’s not good.’ Then, all of the sudden, I hear the smoke alarms going off. I knock on the door and don’t see any movement. I knock again, I don’t see any movement at all.”
So he hurried to call 911.
“I saw all of the firetrucks and the ambulance, and I was like, ‘Oh that might be worse than I thought,’” he said.
Harmony Township and Economy Borough firefighters arrived within four minutes and broke through the back kitchen door.
The first floor was filled with smoke from a pan of pierogies burning on the stove.
The homeowner was unconscious in the living room.
They got him outside, and paramedics treated him before taking him to the hospital in critical condition.
Schurko said he hopes the man will be okay.
“I really hope you get better and you can enjoy the holidays,” he said.
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