Two firefighters who survived a Christmas Eve shooting in West Webster near Rochester are talking about their experience for the first time.
Theodore Scardino and Joseph Hofstetter talked with the media Wednesday afternoon. They gave a chilling description about that day and what happened when they arrived on the scene of what they thought was a routine house fire.
All of the men were ambushed by gunman William Spengler who was waiting and opened fire as fire crews arrived." When I got to the ground I started to tighten it up and I heard pop pop pop and thought it was tires shocks in the car and within a second of the first pop Kaczowka was getting shot at and the next thing I was was him jumping out of the drivers seat out the passenger door past me," said Scardino. "I ran to the back of the truck and continued to hear shots and when I got to the back I didn't know where the shooter was. My assumption was he was in the house. I took a look around the back of the truck and that's when I was hit and I fell to the ground and I crawled underneath the truck kind of like Joe said I was in survival mode."
"I didn't know what was happening until literally before I was shot. When cars burn they frequently sound like gun shots different things in the vehicle explode gas cylinders, shocks, tires and you don't really expect someone to be firing at you at a fire scene so I didn't realize that until right before I was hit and at that point it's just kinda survival mode you know," Hofstetter said.
Two other firefighters Tomas Kaczowka and Mike Chiapperini lost their lives in the attack.
