Like most New Yorkers, we are moved — awestruck, really — by the courage of the firefighters who walked into a blaze last week to save five members of a Woodhaven family. They represent the best of what it means to be human.
The father had jumped from a second−floor window. The mother made a panicked call to 911 and told the operator her home was in flames. Before passing out, she begged, “Please, I have two kids.” A grandmother was also trapped in the home. When they arrived at the hospital, the family was listed in critical condition. Doctors now say all five will survive.
No one would have faulted these firefighters if they had determined it was too risky to enter the home. But they knew a family was trapped inside and refused to let them die.
The FDNY should be proud of what happened and an entire city should be grateful that such courage exists.
