Trio lauded for saving couple, dog from burning restaurant

MORRISTOWN — Andy Mottram used his full height – 6 feet 9 inches – to form a human ladder and lift his friend Kevin Bauman on the roof of a burning building to save a woman trapped inside.

Bauman grabbed the woman through an open window and handed her down to a waiting Mottram, who also managed to record the rescue on his cellphone and then rescue the family dog.

The two men, as well as Frank DeMaio, who simultaneously saved the woman's husband, received commendations for their bravery on Wednesday night.

The man and woman they saved in November were Billy and Madeline Fornaro, owners of the famed Billy & Madeline's Red Room Tavern in Whippany.

"It was just something that needed to be done at that time," Bauman told the Morris County freeholders and county Sheriff James M. Gannon at the commendation ceremony in Morristown.

Bauman, Mottram and DeMaio, all Hanover Township residents, were hailed as heroes at the freeholders' meeting for the Nov. 27 rescues from the fire that destroyed the restaurant that opened in 1933.

More: Hanover's Red Room Tavern owner said she and husband lucky to be alive

More: 84-year-old Billy & Madeline's Red Room Tavern in Hanover destroyed by fire

Billy, 85, and Madeline, 67, did not attend the ceremony to witness the three men receive a framed resolution of honor that included a photograph of the restaurant and the lifesaving certificates from the sheriff. It's not clear why the couple did not attend.

The men recounted the events of that day and how they happened upon the scene.

Bauman and Mottram, good friends, said they were driving together to get lunch around 12:45 p.m. when they saw smoke pouring from the restaurant. They stopped and spotted Madeline at the second floor window with smoke billowing around her. That's when they formed the human ladder and brought her to safety.

In the short video recording of the rescue, Madeline could be heard crying out for her husband Billy. As she was rescued from the window, she was heard saying: "I don't know where Billy is."

That's where DeMaio's heroic actions come in.

DeMaio, a former firefighter who was also driving by, stopped and saw a dazed Billy at the edge of a ground-level door of the restaurant. He approached and wrapped him in a coat and walked him to safety. DeMaio suffered smoke inhalation and was brought to a hospital for treatment.

DeMaio told the freeholders, Hanover Mayor Ronald Francioli and Whippany Fire Chief Joseph Cortright, also present at the ceremony, that he left his truck idling near the restaurant during the rescue, and that's where he found it when he returned from the hospital.

"The good news is I had just gone to get chili at Quik Check and my chili was hot. Thank God it all had a great ending," DeMaio said. He said Bauman and Mottram deserve the credit.

"I give these two guys more credit than anything. These guys put a plan together just like that and it was a great plan," DeMaio said.

Bauman said he did what most people would have done.

"I kind of feel like I don't necessarily deserve this," Bauman said of the framed resolution. "Because the worst thing would have been to do nothing. So I appreciate this so much. It's not going to stop this from going on a wall in my house at all."

Cortright said the trio performed a heroic job usually performed by trained firefighters. In the four minutes between the time of the dispatch and arrival on the scene, the Fornaros were out of the restaurant, where they lived on the third floor, Cortright said.

"They took one component of our job out. And when you hear a call go out that lives are in danger that's the first thing we focus on, protecting the lives of the victims inside the building. They took care of that for us," Cortright said.

The fire started in the kitchen of the restaurant that was closed for business at the time. The cause could not be determined because of the collapse of the upper floors, according to the Morris County Prosecutor's Office.

Madeline recently told the Daily Record the restaurant will be demolished in a few weeks after insurance paperwork is completed. She said a firm decision hasn't been made whether to rebuild though her husband wants to.

Billy Fornaro's parents opened the restaurant as a tavern in 1933 and he took over its management in 1959. The name was changed to Billy & Madeline's Red Room Tavern in 1980 after the couple married, Madeline said.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.