DERBY – Two police officers were honored by the city’s Board of Aldermen and Alderwomen Thursday for their heroic actions during a fire on Derby Avenue last month.
“You put your lives on the line to save other people. You did Derby proud that day,” Mayor Joseph DiMartino said during a meeting Nov. 12.
Alderman George Kurtyka, president of the board and a retired Derby detective, presented Officers Jonathan Tirado and Ty Netto with citations of heroism, noting the bravery they displayed in the face of danger.
Tirado and Netto were the first on scene at a fire at 272 Derby Ave. reported about 5 p.m. Oct. 23, according to a statement from Derby police.
Body-cam footage shows Tirado running toward the apartment house. He spots a woman near the front door and yells “Is everybody out?” while his camera captures flames and smoke shooting from the back of the dwelling.
He steps inside the doorway. Two residents can be seen in the footage. Netto’s already inside asking if anybody else is in there.
“You gotta get out!” Tirado says.
“My sister’s down there,” a resident says, pointing to stairs leading to a lower floor. “She can’t breathe!”
The residence at Derby Avenue, a busy road connecting Route 34 to Division Street, looks deceivingly small from the sidewalk.
However, the rear of the property is on a hill sloping toward the Naugatuck River. There were 10 apartments in the 5,800 square-foot building, with three of the structure’s four floors below street level on the hill in the back.
“Where is she?” Tirado says, making his way down the stairs.
“Second floor, right hand side,” the woman responds.
Within 10 seconds Tirado spots the woman’s sister. She’s having trouble walking.
“You gotta get out, come on,” he said.
He then scoops the woman up, and carries her up a flight of stairs and out the front door in about 17 seconds.
Netto can be heard on the video yelling for the other residents to get out.
The body cam video is below. The article continues below the video.
“Both officers acted decisively and without hesitation, placing themselves in harm’s way to protect the lives of others. Their actions reflect the commitment, courage, and dedication that define the law enforcement profession,” the department posted to Facebook Nov. 4.
The woman seen talking on the video and her sister who was carried out were treated for minor injuries at a hospital.
The Valley Indy is aware of three GoFundMe pages created to help the people displaced.
- Helping My Father With The Derby, CT Fire
- A Fresh Start For Derby Sisters After The Fire
- Derby Fire Relief For Two Men
Tirado and Netto were previously honored during a police department awards ceremony Nov. 9.
Tirado joined Derby police in 2018.
Netto is a Derby High School graduate, where he played baseball. He was named as a Derby police recruit in 2024 and graduated from the police academy in 2025.
Netto’s father, Sgt. John Netto, retired from the Derby Police Department in 2025 after 25 years on the job.
Derby Fire Marshal Brian Lampart said Nov. 12 the official cause of the fire is undetermined because the extent of the damage was too great.
However, Lampart said the likely cause was a cigarette ash can on a deck outside the house in the rear. The actual can was not recovered. It’s possible the can was blown into the Naugatuck River as firefighters used high-powered hoses to fight the flames.
“Smoking played a big part in how the fire started. There was so much damage in the back, we could not identify the can we were looking for,” he said.
There were multiple smoke detectors within the apartments. The structure pre-dates the requirement for a sprinkler system.
The building is 107 years old, according to an online assessor’s database.
“There were still a lot of voids between the floors, so the fire just traveled. Once it got in there, it just traveled from one part of the house to the next, and it was very hard to extinguish,” Lampart said.
The fire marshal said there were four to five people inside when the fire started.
He credited the police officers for their actions.
“We’re very proud of what the police did. It just shows how the (emergency) services act together,” he said.