Man killed in Seymour house fire on Memorial Day, police rescue woman

HAPPENED. TWO SEYMOUR POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICERS JUST HAPPENED TO BE IN THE AREA ON ROUTINE PATROL WHEN THEY SAW THIS HOUSE UP IN FLAMES, AND THEY IMMEDIATELY SPRUNG INTO ACTION. I THINK IF YOU WERE TO ASK ANY OFFICER, THEY WOULD DO THE SAME THING. SEYMOUR POLICE CHIEF GREG O’BRIEN SAYS TWO PEOPLE WERE IN THE BURNING HOUSE MONDAY MORNING. TERESA MESCHINO AND HER BOYFRIEND JONATHAN SHORTY WHITE OFFICERS SAM HUGHES AND JOE FAGAN WERE ON PATROL WHEN THEY SPOTTED THE FLAMES. YOU KNOW, THEY DIDN’T HAVE THE PROTECTIVE GEAR, YOU KNOW, THEY’RE WEARING A UNIFORM AND NOT THE FIRE GEAR THAT FIREMEN WOULD HAVE ON. THE OFFICERS WENT INTO THE BURNING HOUSE AND MANAGED TO HELP MESCHINO ESCAPE. SO SHE DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE HIM BEHIND. SO SHE WAS TRYING TO GET HIM. BUT THE SMOKE WAS JUST OVERTAKING HER. SO WHEN THEY WENT BACK IN TO GET WHITE, THE CEILING COLLAPSED, FORCING THE OFFICERS OUT OF THE HOUSE. WHITE DIED. HE WAS 53 YEARS OLD. WHEN WE FIRST MOVED HERE. HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST ONES TO GREET US. TABITHA HITCHCOCK LIVES NEARBY AND SAYS WHITE WAS WELL KNOWN ON THEIR STREET. HE WAS A VERY SWEET OLDER MAN. UH, BEFORE HE HAD HAD HIS STROKE, HE WOULD COME OVER AND HANG OUT WITH US WHEN WE WOULD HAVE BARBECUES AND LITTLE FIRES IN THE BACKYARD. AND THEN AFTER HIS STROKE, MY HUSBAND AND I AND A FEW OTHER NEIGHBORS, WE WOULD GO OVER AND HELP TEND TO HIS LAWN AND SEE THINGS THAT HE NEEDED. NEIGHBORS SAY WHITE WAS PARALYZED ON ONE SIDE OF HIS BODY AFTER A STROKE, MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR HIM TO ESCAPE THE FIRE ON HIS OWN. BUT SHORTY WAS HE WAS A REALLY GREAT GUY. O’BRIEN SAYS. HE’S PROUD OF HIS OFFICERS FOR RISKING THEIR LIVES. THERE’S SOME TIMES THAT THEY’RE ABLE TO SAVE THEM AND THEN THERE’S OTHER TIMES THAT THEY’RE NOT SO AND THEY CAN BE AN EMOTIONAL TOLL WHEN YOU’RE TRYING TO SAVE SOMEBODY AND THERE’S NOTHIN