DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Courtesy of the New York Daily News
A panicked father screamed, “I want my baby!” as firefighters raced into his burning Queens house Sunday and saved his 2-year-old daughter, wife and mother-in-law.
The amazing Easter rescue came as rising flames separated Andrew Morena, 28, from his loved ones trapped in the attic of the Flushing apartment building they share.
Firefighters racing to the 2:30 a.m. blaze on 156th St. were met outside by Morena yelling up to the attic at his terrified wife who was clutching their daughter, Savannah.
“He was screaming, ‘I want my baby! ‘I want my baby!'” Morena’s brother-in-law Michael Velsor, 25, said.
Firefighters quickly knocked down the flames that had spread from the first to the second floor and were threatening the family’s attic safe haven.
“They went in with no hesitation,” neighbor Giovanni Leone, 43, said of the Bravest. “They knew there was a baby.”
Velsor said he was awakened by his mother, Mirtha Velsor, 55, yelling, “Fire!”
Morena and his wife, Kim Morena-Velsor, 24, grabbed their daughter and tried to flee their second-floor apartment, but the smoke was too heavy, Michael Velsor said.
The family, including Michael Velsor and his mom, retreated to the attic. The men then ran downstairs to grab wet rags to put under the door.
They were met by a wall of fire when they tried to get back to the attic. Velsor said he and Moreno staggered out of the house moments before fire trucks arrived.
