Gov. Ned Lamont offered a personal thank you Wednesday to the rescue crews that responded to this month's fatal B-17 bomber crash at Bradley Airport.

The crash killed seven people. Lamont thanked the six firefighters from the Connecticut National Guard who responded on Oct. 2. But they say the real hero was someone who wasn't on duty.

Sgt. James Traficante was on the plane at the time and was able to open a hatch to let the others escape.

"He happened to know a lot about these planes," said Lamont. "He happened to have his fireproof gloves with him, just because he happened to have them on."

The fire chief says everything went according to training.

Although Traficante attended the event, he declined interviews.

Lamont says some of the passengers that Traficante rescued are still in the hospital. He says some of them have severe burns.

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