NYC FIREFIGHTERS PULL OFF "MIRACLE ON 93RD STREET"
--SUPERS-- (All courtesies have been prefonted.) 07 - 10 Joseph Moore FDNY / Ladder 13 20 - 25 James Lee FDNY / Rescue 1 38 - 40 Francis Rush FDNY / Rescue 1 44 - 50 James Lee FDNY / Rescue 1 1:15 - 1:19 James Lee FDNY / Rescue 1 1:35 - 1:52 James Lee FDNY / Rescue 1 2:01 - 2:07 Jim Duffy Rescued from Fire 2:14 - 2:19 Francis Rush FDNY / Rescue 1 --LEAD IN-- LAST MONTH, A MASSIVE APARTMENT FIRE IN NEW YORK CITY FORCED FIREFIGHTERS TO TRY A RISKY MANEUVER--- USING A ROPE TO RESCUE AN 81-YEAR-OLD MAN FROM THE FIFTH FLOOR OF THE BURNING BUILDING. THE FIRE LEFT ONE PERSON DEAD AND 15 INJURED, INCLUDING 11 FIREFIGHTERS. BUT THE DARING RESCUE NOW DEEMED THE "MIRACLE ON 93RD STREET" IS ONE THE GROUP WILL NEVER FORGET. BRYNN GINGRAS REPORTS. --REPORTER PKG-AS FOLLOWS-- nats: Urgent, urgent, urgent. Command to all units. We want everybody out of the fire building. Joseph Moore, FDNY / Ladder 13: This is the type of job you see, you know, once in a 20 year career AS A MANHATTAN APARTMENT BUILDING IGNITED IN FLAMES… ABOUT 250 MEMBERS OF THE FDNY RACED TOWARD IT… THESE FIVE MEN AMONG THEM. James Lee, FDNY / Rescue 1: The roof was on fire. There was fire coming out of the shaft. There was fire all around us. THE FIREFIGHTERS NEVER MET BEFORE.. BUT THAT DAY.. AN 81-YEAR-OLD MAN TRAPPED IN HIS HOME… BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER. James Lee, FDNY / Rescue 1: Frank called me and told me that we had a guy at the window. Francis Rush, FDNY / Rescue 1: My thought was possibly a fire escape to get to him, but there was no rear fire escape in this old tenement. James Lee, FDNY / Rescue 1: I just grabbed the rope, dumped the rope on the roof and that"s when Andy and Steve came up and Joe and we went to work. A ROPE RESCUE IS A DANGEROUS TECHNIQUE WHICH HASN"T BEEN ATTEMPTED BY THIS DEPARTMENT IN FIVE YEARS BECAUSE ITS CONSIDERED A LAST RESORT BY FIREMEN"S STANDARDS, BUT ONE THEY KNEW THEY HAD TO DO. WITHIN SECONDS.. JIM LEE WAS BEING LOWERED DOWN- SCALING THE BURNING BUILDING. nats: Go to your right, Jimmy, go to your right. James Lee, FDNY / Rescue 1: He was burning at one point and you could hear him yell, I"m burning<pi>. </pi>I just remember sort of seeing him, looking up at me with the hood up and I just said to him, lets go. WITH THE ROPE HOLDING THEM, BEGINNING TO BURN.. nats: Nice and easy.. lower him down. THE TEAM OF FIREFIGHTERS SUCCESSFULLY LOWERED THE TWO MEN TO SAFETY.. nats: He"s down. SECONDS BEFORE THE ROPE SNAPPED. James Lee, FDNY / Rescue 1: Looking back up and seeing the fire out the windows, the roof was on fire and the reality really set in that wow, we really just, we saved a guy"s life. Legitimately, a group of guys worked together in seamless fashion and saved this guys life. What a feeling<pi>.</pi> THAT FEELING CAME AGAIN.. nats: Well you look familiar WHEN FIREFIGHTER JIM LEE MET THE MAN HE AND THE OTHERS SAVED, JIM DUFFY. Jim Duffy:<pi></pi>I said, thank god, it was a miracle. Or as I called it, a miracle on 93rd street. James Lee: alright, well that"s a good catch phrase, I like it. Joseph Moore:<pi></pi>No one will take that away from you (everyone laughs) Francis Rush, FDNY / Rescue 1: We deal with a lot of tragedy in this job and through the course of the career, more tragedy than you"d like to ever see and this was definitely a win for everybody. BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN, NEW YORK. --TAG-- FIRE OFFICIALS SAYS THE FIRE WAS CAUSED BY AN OVERLOADED ELECTRICAL CORD. THE BUILDING WILL HAVE TO BE TORN DOWN. THE FIREFIGHTERS HAVE SET UP A FUNDRAISING SITE TO HELP MR. DUFFY FIND A NEW HOME ONCE HIS REHABILITATION IS COMPLETE. -----END-----CNN.SCRIPT----- --KEYWORD TAGS-- NYFD FIRE