The EMTs found a ladder and climbed up to a second floor window, where they heard the baby crying.
“[The EMT] saw the baby’s bed but not the baby,” Barzilay said. “Two EMTs entered the second floor window with another EMT on the ladder outside of the window, but the members were still unable to locate the mother and baby.”
When firefighters arrived, the medics were able to help FDNY Captain Dan O’Shea and his team from Ladder 31 zero in on where the mom and baby were.
Firefighters found the mom unconscious and brought her outside to a waiting ambulance. Captain O’Shea kept searching and found the baby, also unconscious, under some blankets in a smoke-filled room. He handed the baby to another first responder on the ladder that the EMTs set up, FDNY officials said.
The 25-year-old mother and her child were rushed to Lincoln Hospital with critical injuries, but are expected to survive, officials said. Five EMS members also suffered minor injuries.
As they searched for the mom and child on the second floor, the EMS members “inhaled a lot of smoke,” Barzilay said. “Other members helped remove them from the room.
One EMT took on a significant amount of smoke and needed more medical assistance.”
“The EMS members did a great job in directing the fire units, letting us know that there were trapped civilians. They really helped today,” FDNY Deputy Chief Brian Shovlin said at the fire scene.
The hero EMTs suffered minor injuries and are expected to recover, Chief Shovlin said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
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