As flames billowed up from the floor below her, an 11-year-old girl threw her little brother to safety on Thursday, dropping the three-year-old into the arms of four men below the fire escape where she was trapped.

The fire department had not yet arrived when Janixia Soto and her brother Walter clambered out to the fire escape of their Prospect Park South second floor apartment with their dog shortly before 6 a.m., an FDNY spokesman told DNAinfo. With the ladder jammed and smoke pouring out of the window, Soto tossed the boy out of harm’s way.Firefighters arrived shortly thereafter and rescued Janixia and her mother Michelle, who had gone back into the apartment to get the family cat, to safety.

It took 100 firefighters to control the blaze, which started in a grocery store on the first floor.

Follow Emily Johnson on Twitter @emilyjreports

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The fire broke out about 2 p.m. Wednesday at the home on 84th Street near 163rd Avenue in Howard Beach, authorities said.

There was an explosion inside the home, an FDNY official said.

Witnesses told The Daily News that the home’s resident, 49-year-old Theresa Pepitone, ran out of the house with her skin peeled back and her face and hair burned from the fire. Her dog, who was also inside the home, was treated for minor injuries.

Authorities were trying to determine the cause of the fire. Homes on the block had recently undergone repairs for damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, but it is not yet clear if the explosion was related to the storm, the News reported.

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Officials with the firefighter union on Wednesday accused the FDNY of fudging its emergency response time numbers.

The union analyzed response time data from the last two weeks and found that the FDNY excluded the amount of time it takes a caller to reach an operator through the city’s beleaguered 911 call system.

“They’re not counting the time a 911 caller spends with the 911 operator,” union head Steve Cassidy told the Daily News. “The time is significant — over a minute.”

Both the FDNY and the NYPD are understaffed and have been known to rely on forced overtime to handle their call volume, which is up 20% from 2009.

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Firefighters are battling a massive fire in the Bronx this morning.

The fire broke out at about 6:15 a.m. inside a detached garage at 685 E. 225th Street near the Wakefield Metro-North and subway stations, according to the Associated Press. It went to a fourth alarm shortly after.

No injuries were reported.

Service on the 2 and 5 trains have been suspended between 241st Street and Gun Hill Road.

Local residents took to Twitter to post photos of the large plumes of smoke rising from the blaze.

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A Boston University student from Brooklyn, N.Y. was killed and two other students were injured when the Allston home they were in erupted in flames Sunday morning, sending at least one person jumping from the roof of a porch to escape the fierce flames.

Binland Lee, 22, was a senior studying marine science and was scheduled to graduate in September, according to BU Today. She graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 2009.

In a letter to the school community Sunday night, President Robert Brown called the incident a tragedy.

“Our thoughts and prayers go to the family and friends of the individual who has died and all the victims of the fire,” Brown said in his letter, which was posted on the school’s website.

A fire department spokesman said Lee was found in the attic.

The three-alarm fire broke out at 87 Linden St., at about 6:30 a.m. In total 15 people were injured, including six Boston firefighters. The fire and smoke were so intense and caused so much damage inside that fire crews were pulled out of the building during their effort.

Investigators are still determining the cause of the fire. City inspectors have also been called in because it appeared that 19 people were living in the three-story home. It was not immediately clear how many people were legally allowed to live there. BU officials said at least nine students lived in the home.

Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.

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Police are trying to identify a woman whose remains were found inside a burnt suitcase in Brooklyn last month.

Cops discovered the suitcase containing the remains March 23 at 174 Hull St. in Bed-Stuy. A fire had occurred at the location nearly 10 months earlier on May 9, 2012, police said.

The remains have been determined to be those of a woman in her late teens to mid-20s, between 5 feet and 5-feet-6. Police have released an artist’s sketch of the victim and are asking for the public’s help in identifying her.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crimestoppers website or by texting their tips to CRIMES (274637), then entering TIP577.

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An 84-year-old woman died just after midnight Wednesday morning in a fire inside an East Village apartment, cops said.

Police responded to the call about a fire at 115th Fourth Ave. inside apartment 5F. Upon extinguishing the fire, responders found the elderly victim unresponsive with burns to her body. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials are investigating the cause of the fire.

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It’s believed that a child may have started a three-alarm fire that tore through a 27-story apartment building in the Bronx on Saturday morning, injuring 48 people, five of them critically, Gothamist reports.

More than 135 firefighters responded to the fire at an E. 149th St. apartment building, fighting to contain it for more than two hours after it started around 7:40 a.m. A child playing with a cigarette lighter on the fifth floor is suspected to be the cause of the fire.

A one-year-old girl and both of her parents were among the most severely stricken in the smoky building and had to be revived by paramedics. The mother and daughter are stable but the father is still in critical condition, according to the Daily News.

Five firefighters and two paramedics were also among the injured, but are expected to make a full recovery.

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Cops are investigating after a three-alarm fire tore through several brownstones in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn early Thursday morning, leaving dozens of residents homeless.

The fire broke out shortly after 3 a.m. inside a building on Pulaski Street, according to the fire department.

No injuries were reported, and the fire was contained within two hours, NBC News reports. Fire officials said a lightning strike or faulty wiring may have sparked the blaze.

The investigation is ongoing.

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A 19-year-old Bronx woman who was having an argument with her mother has been charged in connection with the massive apartment building fire that left nearly 30 people homeless Saturday morning.

Princess Martinez allegedly lit a mattress on fire during a fight with her mother inside their fifth floor apartment at 2254 Cedar Ave. in University Heights, the New York Post reports. Martinez left the apartment and bolted it shut. Her mother escaped unharmed, but the fire quickly grew to a three-alarm blaze that tore through a number of apartments on the fifth and sixth floors.

Six firefighters were treated for injuries and 27 people were displaced after the fire.

Martinez has been charged with arson.

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Eleven people were injured, four of them critically, when a fire tore through a two-family house in Queens early Monday morning.

The fire started just before 2 a.m. inside the kitchen of the second-floor apartment at 169-03 65th Ave., according to the FDNY.

Those who were critically hurt include a 3-year-old, a 14-year-old and two parents, ABC News reports. They were trapped inside their bedrooms and were rescued by firefighters through windows. Most of the injuries are smoke-related.

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A 35-year-old man was found dead inside a Queens home after firefighters extinguished a one-alarm fire at the location Sunday morning, cops said.

Police and firefighters responded to the fire at 119-30 146th St. in South Jamaica about 9:36 a.m. They discovered the burned body in the basement. The man, who has been identified as James Minor of Poughkeepsie, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The medical examiner will determine the cause of death. The investigation is ongoing.

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Firefighters battled a fire early Monday morning at a commercial building in Lower Manhattan.

It was the second fire that had broken out at the location in less than 24 hours.

A 4-alarm fire tore through 140 Fulton St. on Sunday morning. Firefighters spent the day putting the fire out, but another fire broke out at the same building just before 2 a.m. on Monday.

No injuries were reported on either day. Monday’s blaze went a second alarm at 2:25 a.m. and a third alarm at 3:39 a.m., the Wall Street Journal reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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A 34-year-old Brooklyn man has been charged with murder in connection with two bodies that were found in a fire in Howard Beach last week, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.

Rogelio Rodriguez of Brooklyn is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with evidence.

The bodies of Gary Lopez and Rudy Superville, both of Brooklyn, were found in a fire in a grassy area off the Belt Parkway in Howard Beach on March 6 after firefighters had responded to a call about a fire. The Medical Examiner said both men sustained blunt force trauma as well as gunshot wounds. Superville also sustained stab wounds to the back and neck.

Police said they believe the victims were trying to steal drugs from Rodriguez’ apartment when they were attacked, according to The New York Times.

Sometime after midnight on March 7, Rodriguez dumped seven firearms in Newton Creek in Maspeth, Queens, including two weapons that were used in the murders of Lopez and Superville, according to the District Attorney’s office.

Police are still searching for at least three other suspects who were involved in the murders.

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Police are searching for the occupants of three separate vehicles spotted near the location where cops discovered two dead bodies in a fire in Howard Beach early Wednesday.

Upon putting out a fire in a grassy area near 159th Avenue and 78th Street, responders discovered the burned bodies of Rudy Superville, 22, and Gary Lopez, 25, both of Brooklyn.

The individuals inside a two-toned dark-colored custom van, a light-colored sedan and a dark-colored sedan are being sought for questioning in the investigation. Images of the vehicles were obtained near 157th Avenue and 83rd Street.

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Two young men have been charged after they robbed and killed a Queens man before they set his apartment on fire to cover up their crimes this weekend, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.

Stephen Peters, 22, and Jason St. Hill, 17, went to the apartment of Azeem Ali, 43, in the Richmond Hill section of Queens just after midnight on Sunday. After they arrived, Peters allegedly punched and pistol whipped the victim and then tied his hands and feet with electrical cord.

Peters also allegedly took Ali’s ATM card and demanded his PIN number before shooting him in the head. He then poured gasoline around the apartment and set it on fire. The two men allegedly headed to an ATM machine at a nearby gas station where they withdrew $200 from Ali’s account.

The accused men were arraigned in Queens Criminal Court Thursday evening. They are charged with murder, kidnapping, burglary, arson, and robbery, among other charges. They were held without bail and ordered to return to court on March 14.

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UPDATE: Police report the victim was found in his bedroom with his hands and feet bound. His feet were tied with electrical cord; speaker wires were wrapped around his shoulders.

A law enforcement source reports that the victim was shot once in the head.

Police believe the fire started in the victim’s bedroom.

The victim lived on the second floor of a two-story residential building with a bodega on the ground floor.

No one else was injured, police said.

The victim was identified for police by his brother, when he arrived on the scene after the fire was extinguished.

Metro’s original story is below.

At 2:35 a.m. early Sunday morning, police and firemen responded to the scene of a fire at a home in South Richmond Hills in Queens.

After the fire had been put out, police discovered a 43-year-old man with severe burns all over his body. He was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS personnel.

The fire has been deemed suspicious by police; an investigation is underway.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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One person died in a fire at a Brooklyn apartment building early Friday morning.

The fire began around 3 a.m. at 51 Ross St. in Williamsburg, police said. A 78-year-old man was found in his apartment and pronounced dead at the scene.

Two other people suffered minor injuries, Eyewitness News reported. The fire broke out on the 12th Floor and it was confined to one apartment.

There was another deadly fire in the same apartment building last month when an elderly woman died in her apartment. That fire is believed to have been caused by a lit cigarette in the woman’s living room.

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Electrical wires were the cause of a massive four-alarm fire that ravaged part of a Pratt Institute building last Friday, fire officials said.

The fire department announced via Twitter on Tuesday afternoon that the cause of the fire was “accidental electrical, wiring on the 6th floor.”

The fire broke out early on the morning of Feb. 15 on the top floor of Pratt’s main building at 200 Willoughby Avenue in Brooklyn.

Three firefighters and one other unidentified person had minor injuries. The fire burned through a number of studios at the art, design and architecture school, destroying many students’ artwork.

Firefighters were able to get the fire under control within a couple hours. The cause of the fire was initially deemed suspicious.

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A large, four-alarm fire burned through a building on the Pratt Institute campus in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn early Friday morning, the Daily News reports.

The fire broke out around 2 a.m. on the top floor of the school’s main building on Willoughby Avenue near the Brooklyn Queens Expressway.

Hundreds of officials rushed to the scene. Firefighters were able to get the fire under control by 4 a.m., the New York Post reported.

There was no one inside the building and no firefighters were injured. The cause is being investigated, but the fire has been deemed suspicious.

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No charges were filed against the four men, but prosecutors said they could be held for up to five days as police press them for clues as to how the fire early Sunday morning could have caused so many deaths.

Stunned residents in the southern city of Santa Maria attended a marathon of funerals beginning in the pre-dawn hours. As sunset approached, friends and family members readied for a candle-lit procession through the streets of the city.

The tragedy came as Brazil prepares to host the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament and 2016 Olympics, putting its safety standards and emergency response capabilities in the international spotlight.

President Dilma Rousseff, who cut short a visit to Chile to fly to the scene of the disaster on Sunday, called for a minute of silence before addressing a meeting of newly elected mayors in the capital, Brasilia.

“The pain I saw in Santa Maria was indescribable,” Rousseff said. “Faced with this tragedy, it is our duty to make sure it never happens again.”

Most of the dead were suffocated by toxic fumes that rapidly filled the Kiss nightclub after the band set off a flare at about 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, authorities said.

The club’s operating license was under review for renewal after expiring last year.

Witnesses said bouncers initially blocked the only functioning exit because they believed fleeing customers were trying to skip out on their bar tabs.

Tarso Genro, governor of the prosperous southern state of Rio Grande do Sul where the disaster occurred, said authorities had shifted their focus from rescue and taking care of the wounded to investigating the scene.

“We’re going to find out who was responsible,” he vowed.

The death toll was revised down to 231 from 233 as officials said some names had been counted twice. Eighty-two people were hospitalized, 75 of them in serious condition, officials said.

Mourning throughout Brazil was mixed with frustration at a culture of lax regulation blamed for putting lives at risk.

“So many young ones with all of their lives ahead of them,” Brazilian soccer legend Pele wrote on Twitter. “The government has to make a priority of event security in this country!”

SAFETY ENFORCEMENT UNEVEN

Relatives and friends of the dead demanded accountability, signaling the start of a wave of police probes, lawsuits and recriminations that could drag on for months or even years.

Based on testimony from more than 20 witnesses, investigators are now certain that the band’s pyrotechnics show triggered the blaze, police official Sandro Meinerz said.

The band’s guitarist, Rodrigo Lemos Martins, 32, said he doubted the band was responsible for the blaze. “There were lots of wires (in the ceiling), maybe it was a short circuit,” he was quoted as saying in Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.

The band’s accordion player, Danilo Jaques, 30, was among those killed, but the other five members survived. The band’s vocalist and production engineer were detained by police investigating who was responsible for firing the flare, according to Brazilian media.

It seems certain others will share the blame for Brazil’s second-deadliest fire ever. The use of a flare inside the club was a clear breach of safety regulations, fire officials said.

Some details may never be known. Meinerz said the club owner told authorities that the club’s internal video surveillance system had stopped working three months ago.

Clubs and restaurants in Brazil are generally subject to a web of overlapping safety regulations, but enforcement is uneven and owners sometimes pay bribes to continue operating.

The investigation of the Kiss fire could drag on for years. After a similar fire at an Argentine nightclub in 2004 killed 194 people, more than six years passed before a court found members of a band criminally responsible for starting the blaze and causing the deaths.

That tragedy also provoked a massive backlash against politicians and led to the removal of the mayor of Buenos Aires.

Civil lawsuits stemming from the Brazil fire are likely to be directed at the government because the owners of the nightclub probably don’t have much money, said Claudio Castello de Campos, a Brazilian lawyer who has handled big cases including the crash of a TAM Airlines jet in Sao Paulo in 2007.

Castello de Campos disputed some statements by local officials that the Kiss nightclub could have continued operating legally while it was waiting for its license to be renewed. “If the license was expired, that’s an irregular situation,” he said.

Valdeci Oliveira, a legislator in Rio Grande do Sul state, said he and his colleagues would seek to ban pyrotechnics displays in closed spaces such as nightclubs.

“It won’t bring anybody back but we’re going to introduce the bill,” Oliveira said on his Twitter feed.

The Brazil fire is the worst to hit an entertainment venue since a fire on Christmas Day in 2000 engulfed a mall in Luoyang, China, killing 309 people.

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The 52-foot figure has stood tall at the fairgrounds in Dallas since 1952. He was said to wear size 70 boots and a 75-gallon hat.

Smoke and flames were spotted coming out of his neck this morning and it wasn’t long before the larger-than-life Big Tex was fully engulfed in flames. Onlookers watched in horror as an legendary icon was destroyed.

Officials say it maybe have been an electrical fire, but a cause has not yet been determined.

In 1997, Big Tex’s skeleton got a makeover, allowing for a mechanical hand that waived to fair-goers. He got a new outfit every three seasons and was currently wearing a pair of 65-pound pair of Dickies jeans. His skin was made of fiberglass.

He often bellowed recorded announcements in a famous Texas-style voice — a voice his fans may never hear again.

(Photos via Twitter)

Big Tex on a better day.

The fire was spotted first near his neck.

Only his hands, feet and metal frame remained after the fire.

Officials hauled Big Tex away in a “body bag.”

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According to the FDNY, more than 84 firefighters responded to the building around 7:45 a.m. An FDNY official told Metro a caller reported seeing smoke and flames coming from the building. Upon further investigation, it was determined that some torch work had been the source of the smoke and flames.

Officials concluded that no fire took place.

No one was inside the building when the incident was reported and no one was injured.

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The fire was contained, but not extinguished, according to the company. The fire has blazed for hours after it erupted at the refinery in a densely populated industrial suburb of San Francisco. Smoke could be seen billowing over the Bay Area and four train stations were shut.

Nearby residents were ordered indoors after the fire hit the sole crude unit at the 245,000 barrel per day (bpd) plant, which accounts for one-eighth of California state’s refining capacity. About 200 people have sought medical help, complaining of respiratory problems, the San Pablo, California-based Doctors Medical Center said in a statement.

The fire had started in the No. 4 crude unit, the only one at the plant, at 6:15 p.m. shortly after a leak was discovered, Chevron said. As the leak grew, workers were evacuated, plant manager Nigel Hearn told journalists at the site. He said some units were still operating, but gave no details.

It was not immediately clear when the fire would be put out and the extent of damage to the plant was not known.

“I walked outside and saw what looked like a lot of steam coming out of Chevron, way more than usual. I thought they must have blown a boiler,” said Ryan Lackay, a 45-year-old employee at a chemical plant next door to the refinery.

“And then all of a sudden it just went whoosh, it ignited.”

Crude distillation units (CDUs) break down oil into feedstock for other units in a refinery. It can take months to repair a CDU at a large plant, during which operations are typically severely limited.

Any lengthy disruption in production could affect the supply of fuel in the West Coast, particularly gasoline, due to the difficulty in meeting California’s super-clean specifications. The region also has few immediate alternative supply sources.

“Chevron will have a hard time finding replacement barrels in an already short market,” said Bob van der Valk, a petroleum industry analyst in Terry, Montana.

“Refineries are already drawing down summer blend inventory in anticipation of the switch back to winter blend gasoline.”

TOWERING FLAMES, BLACK SMOKE

Residents of Richmond were advised to “shelter in place”, an order often given during refinery accidents to shield against possible exposure to toxic chemicals or smoke. Sulfuric acid and nitrogen dioxide were released during the incident, according to a filing with the California Emergency Management Agency.

The refinery, the third largest in California and among the oldest in the country, is key to the economy of Richmond, a declining industrial city. But it has stirred controversy among local residents concerned about the environmental impacts and local politicians often seeking more tax revenues.

“I looked out the window and saw 40 foot flames and black smoke,” Marc Mowrey, a Point Richmond resident who lives about a mile from the plant, said in a telephone interview.

He said the smell was not exceptional or very different from other days, but a huge plume of smoke was sitting over Richmond and neighboring El Cerrito.

Chevron said in a statement that there had been only one minor injury at the refinery, which at its peak 10 years ago employed over 1,300 people on a site of over 2,900 acres.

Last week, the refinery reported vapor leaks and a compressor failure to California pollution regulators, according to notices. The notices did not say which units were involved.

We are “very disappointed that this happened, and apologize that we are inconveniencing our neighbors,” Chevron spokesman Walt Gill told local television.

A Reuters reporter who lives nearby said he heard some loud bangs and a siren as the fire erupted, but a Chevron spokesman denied reports of an explosion.

It is common to shut down the entire plant in the event of a major blaze. A February 17 fire at the CDU of BP Plc’s 225,000 bpd Cherry Point, Washington, refinery led to a three-month shutdown and sent the regional price premium to more than $1 a gallon in some places.

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Before landing, Air Force One flew over part of the Rocky Mountains where smoke could be seen rising from the areas ravaged by what officials say is the most destructive blaze in state history. At least one death has been blamed on the fire.

The blaze had roared unchecked on Tuesday night through communities in the northwestern corner of the city and threatened the U.S. Air Force Academy campus. But the lighter winds that helped firefighters gain new ground against the inferno on Thursday were expected to continue on Friday, fire officials said at a news conference.

They said the wildfire did not grow overnight and it is now 15 percent contained.

Aerial photos of devastation unleashed by the so-called Waldo Canyon Fire showed large swaths of neighborhoods reduced to gray ash – one house after another obliterated while adjacent dwellings survived mostly unscathed.

Authorities confirmed the full extent of destruction on Friday, with 347 houses gutted by fire and more than 20,000 homes still threatened by the blaze.

Colorado Springs Police Chief Peter Carey said a body was found in the debris of a burned-out home, marking the first known death from the blaze. The person became the fifth killed this year in a Colorado wildfire season described by the governor as the worst ever in the state.

Two people were reported missing at the residence where a body was found on Thursday, Carey said, noting that less than 10 people remained missing.

The tally of homes consumed by the Waldo Canyon blaze ranks as the most on record, surpassing the 257 homes destroyed in recent weeks by a much larger blaze north of Denver near Fort Collins.

RASH OF WILDFIRES ACROSS COUNTRY

Waldo Canyon was among more than 40 large, uncontained wildfires being fought across the United States, the bulk of them in 10 western states – Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and even Hawaii, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

In western Colorado, the size of the Pine Ridge Fire northeast of Grand Junction grew overnight to 10,000 acres from 1,500 the day before. Roughly 50 people have been evacuated from a rural area near DeBeque, a town of about 700. No homes were reported lost.

Searing temperatures and strong, erratic winds in recent days stoked the Waldo Canyon blaze, which has burned at least 18,500 acres of timber and brush, much of it in the Pike National Forest to the west of the city that lies at the base of the famed Pikes Peak mountaintop.

For the first time since the fire erupted on Saturday, a red-flag warning for heightened fire hazards was lifted for the Colorado Springs area on Thursday.

But anguish and frustration ran high among many of the estimated 35,000 residents who had to be evacuated from homes.

“You don’t have the authority to keep me out of my house,” David Dougherty, 45, a retired member of the Armed Forces, shouted out during a news conference. “I understand they’re trying to save lives, but some of us don’t need to be saved.”

Dougherty said he believed his dwelling was still intact and wanted to be let back in to the evacuation zone to secure his home and his belongings. Police reported at least two arrests for burglary in an evacuated neighborhood.

SOME EVACUEES RETURN, OTHERS LEFT HOMELESS

While authorities began allowing some evacuees to return beginning at 8 p.m. local time Thursday (0200 GMT Friday), hundreds of residents from neighborhoods caught in the heart of Tuesday’s firestorm met with city officials at the University of Colorado to learn the fate of their homes.

Byron Largent, 26, and his wife, Rebekah, 31, who fled with their one-year-old daughter, Emma, on the first day of the fire, emerged from the meeting saying their worst fears had been confirmed: their house was gone.

The Waldo Canyon blaze remained formidable. Fire crews had managed to carve containment lines around just 15 percent of its perimeter by Thursday afternoon – a fraction of the fire zone although still double the previous day’s total, officials said.

More than 1,200 firefighters, supported by heavy air tankers and helicopters dropping flame-retardant chemicals, had been assigned to the blaze, incident commander Rich Harvey said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. The FBI’s Denver office said on Thursday its agents were working closely with local, state and federal law enforcement “to determine if any of the wild land fires resulted from criminal activity”.

The fire menacing Colorado Springs follows a recent string of suspected arson fires in a neighboring county, but officials said they had no indication that the blaze was deliberately set.

Although federal authorities say the fire season got off to an early state in parts of the Northern Rockies, the number of fires and acreage burned nationwide is still below the 10-year average for this time of year, according to fire agency records.

In Montana alone, eight separate fires have leveled close to 100 structures. The biggest losses were near the town of Roundup, north of Billings, where 64 buildings, half of them homes, were destroyed. Hundreds of people were evacuated.

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The mayor was on his way home in his usual evening routine. That’s when he noticed flames coming from his next-door neighbor’s home. First, Booker’s security team tried to pound on the door, alerting the residents of the impending danger.

Newark Police Detective Alex Rodriguez arrived on the scene and initially had to hold Booker back from rushing into the flames after an elderly woman frantically told them that her daughter was trapped inside the building.

“He basically told me, ‘This woman is going to die if we don’t help her,’ and what can I say to that?,” Rodriguez said of Booker to CBS. “I let him go and without thinking twice, he just ran into the flames and rescued this young lady.”

As Booker bravely dashed out of sight and into the flames, he said the surreal experience resembled a “come to Jesus moment.” Staring an early death in the face, Booker let his instincts take over.

“I actually wasn’t thinking. When I got there and couldn’t find her in all the smoke, looked behind me and saw the kitchen really erupting with flames all over the ceiling, that’s when I had very clear thoughts that I’m not going to get out of this place alive and got … very religious,” he said.

It was then that Booker heard a voice somewhere behind the flames and thick smoke. It was the voice of the young woman who had become trapped in a room and she was calling to Booker, “Help!”

Wasting no time, Booker held down his head and rushed to her side, dodging flames and racing against time.

“I just sort of threw her over my shoulder and dragged her through the kitchen,” Booker said.

But just when Booker thought he had triumphed over fate, he realized that their exit strategy could mean a certain death. The only was out was the kitchen, engulfed in flames and sweltering heat.

“I couldn’t see anything but the flames coming out of the kitchen and I really had this moment where I thought, ‘Okay. I think I’m trapped. I think we can’t get out,’” he recalled.

That’s when Booker knew it was now or never. He had to act fast. With one final burst of adrenaline, Booker punched his way through and created a narrow exit path, leading them to safety. Both Booker and the woman suffered second degree burns, but without Booker’s quick thinking, it could have ended much worse for both of them.

“Yesterday, all my problems were really big to me. Today things feel a lot more clear,” Booker told CBS. “And I have a lot more respect for firefighters!”

Now, that is a mayor who can really save the day! Too bad it’s not an election year for Booker!

The post Newark Mayor Cory Booker rushes into burning building, saves woman appeared first on Metro.us.

Madonna Badger, the grieving mother of Lily, 9, and twins Grace and Sarah, 7, spoke tenderly about her children at a public funeral in their memory.

“I want to remember my girls out loud,” Badger said. “My girls are in my heart. They’re right here, and that’s where they live now.”

Badger, a renowned New York City fashion executive, broke down several times while speaking, but continued despite her tears.

“All they left behind is love,” said Badger.

The girls died in a fire at Badger’s home in Stamford, Conn. The home, which was under renovation at the time, was wired for smoke detectors and alarms, but they hadn’t been installed yet, according to the New York Post.

Matthew Badger, the girls’ father, who is separated from his wife, did not speak, but asked Rev. Dr. William S. Shillady to speak for him.

He described Grace as a “force of creative nature,” Lily like “a beautiful song,” and Sarah as wise beyond her years, a person who “saw the goodness in all of us.”

The Badgers asked that Lily, Grace and Sarah be remembered through acts of service. Each guest was given a donation card for a foundation set up in the girls’ honor, The Other 364 Foundation. Musician Rufus Wainwright sang “Over the Rainbow.”

The funeral was followed by a private burial ceremony in the Bronx.

How did fire start?

The fatal fire occurred in the early morning hours of Christmas Day.

The blaze began from embers Badger and boyfriend Michael Borcina removed from the fireplace after they were up late wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve, fire investigators said.

Borcina removed the ashes at the girls’ request, according to reports, so Santa would not be burned coming down the chimney.

The embers ignited, and only Badger and Borcina were able to escape as the house was destroyed.

Badger’s parents, Pauline, 69, and Lomer Johnson, 71, also perished in the flames. 

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

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A public funeral for Lily Badger, 9, and her twin sisters Grace and Sarah, 7, will begin at 10:30 a.m. at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Midtown.

The funeral comes 11 days after the three girls, along with their grandparents, died in a fire that officials said sprang from a bag of fireplace ashes — moved, reports said, when the girls were worried that Santa might be bothered coming down the chimney.

The girls’ mother, Madonna Badger, an advertising executive, and her boyfriend Michael Borcina made it out of the Stamford, Conn., home.

Badger attended a private wake yesterday at the Frank Campbell Funeral Home.

Firefighters, who attended the wake, might be some of the attendees today. A church representative said the cathedral can hold 1,200 people.

An employee at the Frank Campbell Funeral Home said the public is encouraged to attend. “It’s a terrible tragedy,” he said.

They will be buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.

City stunned

Sherry Cohen, grief recovery specialist at Life After Loss Grief Recovery, said the girls’ deaths was so horrific that opening the funeral to the public allows bystanders to work through their reaction.
   
“It was on such a special day of the year, such a family day,” she said. “By opening it up to the people, it gives the public a chance to maybe find a little completion for their own pain.”
   
The family has opened a foundation for the three girls. The Other 364 Foundation will “champion compassion every day of the year,” according to www.badger familysupport.com.

Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.

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The NYPD picked up a man Monday night and are questioning him now, according to the report.

Police were looking for a man suspected of throwing homemade Molotov cocktails at as many as five locations throughout Queens on Sunday night, including at a mosque, two homes, a bodega and a third home that was used as a Hindu temple. Nobody was injured in any of the incidents. Police, however, considered the attacks possible hate crimes.

The Post also reported that the man threatened bodega workers at the 179th Street Deli after he was caught trying to steal milk and bottles of Starbucks Frappucino.

“You’re going to get it!” he shouted at deli workers, according to the Post.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined Islamic leaders, the Anti-Defamation League and members of 30 other religious groups at the Al-Khoei Islamic Center this morning, the site where a bomb was thrown into the front door.

Bloomberg said that, regardless of whether they were bias attacks, the violence was unacceptable.

“We are outraged by these shocking and despicable acts directed at houses of worship,” said Ron Meier, New York director of the Anti-Defamation League. “These heinous crimes are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.”

- Carly Baldwin

UPDATE: Police have released a sketch of a suspect they believe threw Molotov cocktails at four locations in Queens Sunday night. Officers said they are considering all four incidents, including a house fire, possible hate crimes.

The first attack happened around 8 p.m. when a Molotov cocktail made with a bottle was thrown at the counter of a 179 Street Deli on Hillside Avenue.

Police said a fire that badly damaged a private residence on 107th Avenue just after 8 p.m. was also caused by a Molotov cocktail.

About 45 minutes later, between 60 and 80 people were inside the Al-Khoei Benevolent Foundation in Jamaica when a Molotov cocktail was thrown at one of the building’s doors.  

“It is a surprise that we are not expecting here in New York to happen,” said Munir Hussain, who works in administration for the mosque. “The people are very brave and they are confident in the NYPD.”

The building also houses a school. Hussain said parents have voiced concern, but security has been increased and classes will resume tomorrow.

The final attack involved two explosives thrown at a home that also holds Hindu worship services on 170th Street.

“The attacks on a religious institution and private property in Queens represent a brand of intolerance and bigotry that cannot be allowed to stand in our city,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. “These appalling acts of vandalism are an affront to all New Yorkers. I applaud the NYPD and State authorities for their rapid response, and urge the full prosecution of these attacks as the hate crimes they truly are.”

There were no injuries reported in connection to the incidents.

Police said the suspect was spotted fleeing the scene in a light-colored four-door sedan. They are offering a $10,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

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