FDNY Firefighters Honored for Harlem Rescue

Firefighters were honored Monday for risking their lives to save others.

Dramatic video shows New York City firefighters at their very best, saving babies from an apartment fire in Harlem Sunday.

In all, five children were rescued. And today, the heroes got a well-deserved thank you.

Eyewitness News reporter Joe Torres has more from Harlem.

Lieutenant Mickey Conboy and firefighter Jimmy DiSciullo, of Squad 41. Firefighters George Baade and Dan Shaffer of Ladder 14.

They are the heroic men who yesterday stormed into a burning Harlem apartment building and rescued five children trapped inside.

"They started to cry as soon as I came in the room," DiSciullo said. "And I was kind of like, 'Whoa.' Once I got my mask off and I was like, 'It's OK,' they stopped crying immediately."

But at that point, the kids were only halfway to safety. Five stories above ground, with the tower ladder fully extended, firefighter DiSciullo handed the kids off to his colleagues waiting in the bucket.

"They were a little scared at first," Shaffer said. "But George had one of the girls and I had the other. George brought us down to the ground and, as we left the building, they calmed down pretty quick."

"They started to wave and one girl smiled," Baade said. "That's when you start to feel, this is what you were there for."

All of the firefighters credit their teamwork and their training for Sunday's life-saving efforts. And they added, in a job with workdays too often filled with tragedy and sorrow, how refreshing it was to end the day with joy and exultation.

"It was a great day," Conboy said. "You come back, feel good about yourself, knowing little kids like that got a second chance at life."

Republished with permission of WABC-TV.