People Who Kick Ass: Thanksgiving Heroes Emerge in President Street Fire

Nicholas Fevelo for New York Daily News, Family Photo of Josiah Alexis

It was clear this Thanksgiving that Park Slope should be very thankful for being covered by the NYFD's finest. As reported by our fearless managing editor on Friday, a fire ripped through a house on President Street between 4th and 5th Avenues on Thursday afternoon. The blaze started when a lit cigarette hit a mattress, and after members of the Alexis family attempted to drag the burning mattress from the building, the fire spread uncontrollably. Five people, including an infant, were seriously injured in that fire. Yesterday the NY Daily News published firsthand accounts from the first responders who rushed to the chaotic scene, including Firefighter Neal Malone, who helped to save 8-month old Josiah Alexis's life by performing mouth to mouth resuscitation after the child went into cardiac arrest on the scene.

According to the responding Firefighter Richard Myers, they arrived on the scene only 2 minutes and 27 seconds after the call for help was made. When Myers arrived he found an injured gentlemen on an awning, and woman fleeing from a third story window. When he climbed the ladder to the third story he saw a shocked 20 year old woman, Justine Alexis, who was shouting "My baby! My baby is inside!"

Myers grabbed the badly injured woman and guided her out the window and onto a fire truck ladder. Once inside, he found a man unconscious, whom he also placed in the ladder's rescue bucket.

Meanwhile, Firefighter Dave Newbury of Rescue 2 came into the front room of the apartment and found the 8- month old Josiah unconscious in the corner of the room and covered in soot. He passed the baby out to Firefighter Andrew Hartshorne, who tried to resuscitate the baby.

According to Firefighter Neil Malone, “The baby was limp. He was not breathing. He was in cardiac arrest." They rushed the infant to an ambulance, but Josiah was not responding. Malone continued to make attempt to resuscitate but there was no sign of life. At the 5 1/2 minutes mark, nearly 30 seconds before Josiah would be considered dead, Malone said twin miracles happened: a pulse and a tiny cough.

It’s like a song to your ears to hear that baby get its breath on its own. It was the best Thanksgiving I ever had.

So after saving five peoples' lives on Thanksgiving this what Hartshorne later said:

You have a lifeless 1-year-old and you do what your training taught you to do.

 And Myers summed it up by stating:

“I’m just glad it all worked out. Knowing they are all alive — it felt good.

You guys truly do kick ass. Thanks!

[Via NY Daily News & Gothamist]