Fire Department City of New York

Firefighter James Senk of Ladder 47 was still on an adrenaline high several hours after saving a 4-year-old boy from an apartment fire in the Bronx on Sept. 30.

“It’s incredible, nothing is comparable,” he said from his firehouse, knowing the child was doing well.

The fire on the fourth floor of a building on Zerega Avenue was first reported at 4:12 p.m.

When the members of Ladder 47 arrived on scene, Firefighter Senk said there were “numerous people on the fire escape and black smoke pushing out every window.”


He moved a ladder to the fire escape when he saw a small arm waving out the child gate in an adjacent window. Firefighter Senk told another firefighter he needed to go up the truck’s aerial ladder to the window.

There he removed the glass and saw the child for a moment before he disappeared into the smoky room.

Firefighter Senk, a five-year veteran of the FDNY, removed the child gate, but could not enter the apartment through the window because bunk beds were obstructing the opening. He also said he feared that moving the beds would result in injuring the child.

So he jumped from the aerial ladder to the fire escape, entered the apartment and began his search. Near the doorway to the bedroom he found the unconscious boy. He grabbed him and passed him off to a civilian sitting on the fire escape, because he knew the man could pass him to another firefighter on the fire escape one floor below.

“All I cared about was that he lived,” Firefighter Senk said.

The boy was transported in serious but stable condition to Jacobi Medical Center with smoke inhalation. Another adult also was transported to Jacobi with smoke inhalation.

“[Firefighter Senk] went above and beyond the call of duty,” said Lt. Fred Ill from Battalion 14. “This child would not be with us if he had not made the actions he did. He exemplified the very best qualities of the New York City Fire Department.”