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Off-Duty Firefighter Becomes Latest Subway Hero

2009_08_adamrivera.jpg 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.

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Comments [rss]

  • Potty Boy

    Thank you, Adam.

  • NannyState

    He rescues a guy AFTER eating an indian dinner? Superhero.

  • JohnTheDesigner

    Awesome, thank you, Adam. This story wouldve been another tragedy if not for your swift and selfless efforts.

  • just saying

    Strange that the article doesn't give any indication of how Marco Delamo wound up on the subway tracks. Was he sick, drunk or something else?

  • bradedward

    So what. I pulled someone out of the subway tracks before. The only difference is I just got on the next train and went home.

  • chlyn

    Thank you, Adam.

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