Woman jumps from fire into cop's arms

A Dix Hills woman said she was grateful to be alive after a Suffolk police officer persuaded her to jump off the roof in a dramatic rescue Thursday morning.

Anita Bareja, 37, said she leaped 10 to 12 feet from her burning two-story house on Seaman Neck Road when a police officer told her to "just jump."

Earlier officers had told her "to turn around and grab the roof" and just fall down, Bareja said.

Instead, she panicked and leaped off the roof.

Second Precinct Police Officer William O'Rourke suffered minor injuries in cushioning Bareja's fall, police said. He and Bareja were treated and released from Huntington Hospital.

"It all happened very quickly," Bareja said. "I would say thank you , thank you."

The incident happened about 2:45 a.m., police and fire officials said. In addition to the police officers, about 75 firefighters from Dix Hills, Commack, Melville and Greenlawn responded to the call.

The firefighters used 12 trucks to battle what officials described as a big blaze, bringing it under control in about 40 minutes. Huntington Manor provided mutual aid.

The house sustained significant damage as beams and rafters burned through and "the floor gave way in the kitchen area," said Dix Hills Assistant Fire Chief Tom Magno. There was also considerable heat and smoke damage to parts of the home not reached by flames, he said.

"It was a very intense fire," Magno said. "Had she not gotten out of the window of her bedroom she probably would have succumbed to the heavy smoke."

Bareja said she was alone in the house because her mother and 13-year-old son are vacationing in India.

She went to sleep in her second-story bedroom about 12:30 a.m. and was later awakened by a smoke alarm. She said she called 911 from her cellphone before climbing out her bedroom window to the roof.

"When I woke up, I could not see," she said. "It was black smoke everywhere."

The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Suffolk Police Department's Arson Squad and the Town of Huntington fire marshal.

Det. Lt. James Rooney of Arson Squad said the cause of the fire was undetermined. "It wasn't labeled criminal at this point," Rooney said.

With Gary Dymski

and John Valenti