Heroism Award: FDNY Firefighter Kevin J. Hogan II, Ladder 114

FDNY Firefighter Kevin J. Hogan II, Ladder 114, was involved in the rescue of numerous people - including several toddlers and a pregnant woman - in a March 30, 2011 incident where more than 30 people were injured.

View more: Firehouse Heroism & Community Service Awards

The structure was a four-story corner building with heavy fire showing through the stairwell windows on every level and through the roof.

“It was about 5 in the morning and we knew people were trapped on the fire escapes,” Hogan said.

He had never responded to a structure fire with so many people trapped.

“I went up the fire escape,” Hogan said, to the second floor. “There was a woman and baby laying in bed. I grabbed them and brought them to the fire escape.”

Then he went to an apartment on the third floor where he found a total of seven people.

First, “Same thing, there was another woman and baby and I grabbed them,” he said.

He then brought out two small children and a pregnant mother.

He went back in again, and this time found an older man who collapsed as they made their way out.

Then he re-entered the apartment a final time to search the last bedroom, and found a man thinking about jumping. “I said don’t jump, come with me,” Hogan said.

After that, he went up to the fourth floor were he continued assisting efforts to remove people being handed off by others.

Hogan says he has since been told that the pregnant woman he rescued named her new baby after him.

“It’s a great feeling to help so many people,” he said. “We took out a total of about 33 people… It was definitely a hectic morning for us but it all worked out well, thank God.”

Two other firefighters were also recognized as Herosim Award winners for their actions during this incident: Firefighter Joseph J. Dunn, Ladder 114 and Capt. Robert R. Morris, Special Operations Command at Rescue 2.

Dunn located and rescued two children, ages six and eleven, and a woman.

Morris pulled a firefighter out of a hole when a portion of fourth-floor stairwell collapsed, and then went on to the fourth floor where he rescued a woman.