By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — An FDNY firefighter who risked it all to rappel down the side of a burning Harlem building and save a man trying to escape the flames will be honored with the department’s most prestigious award, officials said Tuesday.
During the FDNY’s Medal Day celebration Wednesday at City Hall, Firefighter Michael Kotzo will be given the Chief of Department Peter J. Ganci Medal for being “instrumental in two of the three life-saving rope rescues” at the dramatic Feb. 23, 2024, fire at St. Nicholas Place and “acting in the highest traditions of the Fire Department of the City of New York,” FDNY officials said.
Several other firefighters who combated the flames and conducted rope rescues during the same fire will also receive Medal Day awards, department officials said.
Kotzo, 49, didn’t think twice when he saw the stranded building resident crawling out of the top-floor window of the six-story building, gasping for air.
“It really wasn’t much of a thought as it was just reaction,” Kotzo told the Daily News. “It just happened. We train quite a lot, and rope rescues — that’s one of those drills we do every week.
“It’s nothing out of the ordinary to go to the roof of our firehouse and, one after the other, go down the side. We’re doing it all the time,” he said.
But there was nothing ordinary at the St. Nicholas Place fire, which officials said was sparked by an exploding e-bike battery.
The blaze broke out on the apartment building’s third floor, trapping residents on the three floors above. Firefighters arrived within three minutes, but one tenant had already fallen from a window he was trying to climb down from.
Kotzo, of Ladder Company 28 on W. 143rd St., nicknamed the “ Harlem Hilton,” drove the ladder truck to the scene and set the aerial ladders to the upper floors, but saw multiple people in the upper windows trying to climb down on their own.
The FDNY conducts roughly one rope rescue a year, sometimes none at all. On that frosty day in February, Kotzo and his team conducted three within a matter of minutes, FDNY officials said.
In rope rescues, one firefighter is attached to a rope secured from above by another firefighter who lowers them down from the roof. After each rescue, a new line is thrown down, so there’s no strain on the ropes and harnesses.
Kotzo had just lowered one firefighter down to save someone hanging from a window when he saw another resident poke his head out of the next window over.
“With no other rope yet on the roof, Firefighter Kotzo determined that the victim’s only chance of survival was to reuse the rope a second time,” the FDNY said in acknowledging the smoke eater’s heroics. “While attempting to calm the victim at the window, he retracted the rope and transmitted to Battalion 16 that a second rope rescue was being conducted.”
Understanding “the inherent risk of using the same rope a second time,” Kotzo snapped on his personal harness, handed the rope to Firefighter Thomas Morrison to secure and “bravely dismounted the parapet,” the FDNY said.
Lowering himself down to the window, Kotzo realized there was a language barrier between himself and the building tenant, he recalled.
“I tried to make eye contact to give him a sense of security,” he remembered. “Once I saw my opportunity to make my move, I grabbed [him] in a way that was safe. He had his arms around my neck, but during the descent, he let go of my neck, so I was pretty much carrying all of his weight, so I was like, ‘Let’s hurry up and let’s get down.’”
Kotzo handed off the patient to EMS. A moment later, he was back inside the building.
“We still had a fire to extinguish and a lot of work to do,” he said. “I’m just glad everything ran smoothly. We were really fortunate that everything just clicked.”
One resident was killed and 17 others were injured in the blaze, officials said. Fazil Khan , a 27-year-old Columbia Journalism School graduate, died at a hospital after he succumbed to the smoke inside the building, officials said.
Kotzo’s efforts made it easy to decide who should win this year’s Ganci Medal , FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said.
“These stories are incredible, dangerous and technical, the medal recipients put their own lives at risk in service of others,” Tucker said. “The efforts of Firefighter Michael Kotzo of Ladder Company 28, conducting multiple roof rope rescues, are exemplary, and he is deserving of our highest honor. His success depended on the training, teamwork and bravery that is the trademark of the FDNY.”
Kotzo grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to New York just so he could become an FDNY firefighter.
“It was something I’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “I’m proud that I’m able to represent the Fire Department and serve the people of this city.”
When he receives his award Wednesday, Kotzo will be joined by his wife Wendy, children Kamryn and Gavin and his parents, who still worry about the 21-year FDNY veteran when he goes out on calls.
“I don’t think they want to ask too many questions,” he joked.
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