Hero FDNY firefighters honored for daring rope rescue during blaze at midtown high-rise

Four FDNY firefighters were honored Tuesday afternoon for their heroic efforts in rescuing tenants stranded in a high-rise Midtown apartment building engulfed in flames earlier this month.

Firefighters Darren Harsch, Adam Nordenschild, Artur Podgorski, and Belvon Koranteng each received proclamations for their daring rope rescues on Nov. 5, during a blaze in an apartment building on East 52nd Street in Manhattan.

“This, in so many ways, is everything the FDNY is about. This was the ultimate teamwork. Some of these members who were literally hanging off of a building together had just worked together that day, and they weren’t even in the same firehouse together,” Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said during the ceremony at Engine Company 39, and Ladder Company 16.

The four firefighters rescued a desperate woman hanging from a window 20 stories above the street as dozens of people were trapped inside the building after an e-bike battery sparked the massive blaze.

“November 5, we saw what bravery looks like,” Mayor Eric Adams said during the ceremony. “Anyone who saw that video that went viral saw just how dangerous it was.”