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Mettle-tested heroes honored with medals – Metro US

Mettle-tested heroes honored with medals

The black smoke and heavy heat from the flames engulfing a Queens home didn’t stop firefighter Michael Czech Jr. of Ladder Company 142 from a daring rescue of three unconscious people on two different floors.

He crawled through a shattered window of the Ozone Park home on Jan. 27, 2009, and carried a 28-year-old woman and her two sons to a window where another firefighter lowered them to paramedics.

For his bravery, Czech received the FDNY’s James Gordon Bennett Medal at the department’s 141st Medal Day yesterday.

It was the second year in a row the prestigious award was bestowed on a member of Ladder 142, a feat not achieved since 1905. The January 2009 fire at 97-12 93rd St. produced two other medal recipients at this year’s ceremony.