What started as a morning run through Silver Beach quickly turned into a life saving rescue for FDNY Lt. James “Jimmy” McConville, who ran into a burning home to save his neighbor and a dog inside.
McConville was out for a run on Aug. 27 and was getting ready to head home when one of his running habits kept him going a little longer. McConville does not like stopping a run without completing the mile he is on, so he decided to get the extra distance in.
That extra distance put him in the right place at the right time.
McConville noticed heavy black smoke coming from a neighbor’s home and immediately went toward the house. Wearing only a T-shirt and shorts and without any protective equipment, the off duty firefighter went inside.
McConville found the homeowner semi-conscious and was able to pull him from the home. Once outside, he realized the man did not have a pulse and immediately began CPR.
The homeowner eventually began breathing again before being taken for medical treatment. McConville also saved a dog from the home.
For McConville, his actions that morning were simply what firefighters are trained to do, whether they are on duty or not.
“Any New York City firefighter would have done the same thing,” McConville said. “I’ve done it for people in Queens and the north Bronx. Why would I not do it for someone in my own neighborhood?”
McConville’s decision to become a firefighter was influenced by someone who played an important role in his life growing up in the East Bronx.
McConville was born and raised in Edgewater Park, as was his mother, giving his family generations of roots in the waterfront community. Edgewater Park has long lived by the motto “Neighbors Helping Neighbors,” something McConville grew up around.
One of those neighbors was FDNY Battalion Chief Fred Scheffold.
Scheffold was much more than a neighbor to McConville. He helped raise him and was someone McConville considered his “Throggs Neck uncle.”
Scheffold later moved from Edgewater Park to Piermont, but the two remained close. His career with the FDNY and the example he set became a major influence on McConville and his decision to become a firefighter himself.
Scheffold, who served with Battalion 12, was among the 343 FDNY members killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
McConville went on to join the FDNY in 2006 and build his own career in the department.
In 2018, McConville received the FDNY’s Walter Scott Medal for his actions during a 2017 fire in the Bronx. McConville, who was assigned to Ladder 39 at the time, helped rescue a woman who was trapped inside a home during the fire.
McConville eventually made his home in Silver Beach, another East Bronx waterfront community with strong ties to the FDNY.
For generations, Silver Beach has been home to firefighters, retired firefighters and families with connections to the department. McConville joked that there are so many firefighters living throughout the community that “you could throw a baseball from house to house, connecting them all.”
For McConville, moving from Edgewater Park to Silver Beach also meant going from one close knit waterfront community to another, both with a tradition of neighbors looking out for one another.
On Aug. 27, that tradition hit especially close to home.
Despite the attention he has received for saving his neighbor’s life, McConville does not consider what he did heroic.
“I’m not a hero,” McConville said. “Heroes are the people we remember. I was just in the right place at the right time.”
