Long Island firefighter helps save a life after husband's funeral

KINGS PARK, Long Island (WABC) -- A Long Island firefighter helped save a life while on her way home from her husband's funeral, and the incident was much more than a coincidence.

"I always say it's on your DNA," Kings Park resident Roseanne Kleppsattel said. "They're going to find a chromosome. It's going to say firefighter, police or someone who goes towards when others are running out."

That's how she describes her late husband, Fred, who died in his sleep last week. He was an Air Force veteran and former fire marshal, and the two have been longtime volunteers in the Kings Park Fire Department.

After the funeral, Kleppsattel decided she wanted to take a different mode of transportation to get home.

"I said, you know what, I don't want to go back (in) the limo," she said. "I want to go back in one of the fire trucks."

Heading home on the Long Island Expressway, traffic was at a standstill because of an accident. And one driver was trapped in a car.

Over her blouse and skirt, Kleppsattel threw on her husband's fire jacket and helped on the scene.

"I asked my captain if he wants a hose line out," she said. "He said yeah, so I pulled a hose line off the front of the truck."

When asked if she thought of the incident as a coincidence, Kleppsattel attributed it to her husband.

"Our guys were just shaking their heads and going, 'Freddy, it's you, it's you,'" she said.