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‘A miraculous job': FDNY commissioner credits EMS in saving firefighter’s life

A firefighter suffered a medical emergency and collapsed while on the roof of a building during a two-alarm fire in Brooklyn

By Elizabeth Keogh
New York Daily News

NEW YORK — The FDNY firefighter who collapsed from a medical episode while battling a fire in Brooklyn over the weekend remains in critical condition, officials said.

The firefighter was among more than 100 of New York’s Bravest and EMS members fighting the flames on Lafayette Ave. near Bushwick Ave. in Bushwick around 11:30 a.m. Sunday, according to the FDNY.

He was working on the roof of the four-story building when he collapsed, said FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker, speaking along the St. Patrick’s Day Parade route Monday.

Colleagues put the firefighter in a bucket and brought him down to the ground, where medics immediately started working on him.

“Our EMTs and paramedics at the scene…did a miraculous job saving the life of a firefighter who was fighting a second-alarm fire,” Tucker said.

The smoke-eater was in “extremely critical condition” as medics raced him to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, according to Tucker. He was later transferred to Lenox Hill Hospital.

“We have a long road ahead of us with this firefighter,” Tucker said. “This incident just highlights for me and all New Yorkers the dangerous job that our firefighters are facing every single day.”

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