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Off-Duty Firefighter Becomes Latest Subway Hero
By
Billy Parker
Published Aug 23, 2009
Modified Aug 23, 2009
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By
Billy Parker
Published Aug 23, 2009
Modified Aug 23, 2009
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An off-duty firefighter got called into action Friday night when he ended up pulling a Wes Autrey and jumping down on the tracks to rescue a man who had fainted and was laying unconscious on the tracks just as an uptown Q train began pulling into the Union Square station. 30-year-old Adam Rivera, originally of Bay Ridge, had been out in the East Village getting Indian food with his girlfriend to celebrate their seventh anniversary. The couple was heading home to the Upper West Side when Rivera spotted 45-year-old Marco Delamo on the tracks. The firefighter out of Engine 10 in lower Manhattan told reporters, "People were panicking, but nobody was doing anything...I thought to myself, 'This is my job — I'm a New York City firefighter, and I have to do something...There was no time to be afraid. You can't waste time hesitating. You just move, and the thinking stops...Being right there in a position to help — that's why I joined the department." Rivera and two other men lifted Delamo to the platform before he was taken to St. Vincent's intensive care with head injuries.
Tagged
adam rivera
date night
east village
engine 10
fainting
fdny
q train
subway hero
subway resuce
union square
Upper West Side
wesley autrey
Billy Parker
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