As though in answer to Bloomberg's proposed cuts to the force, firemen saved three more New Yorkers from fiery deaths. Early this morning a mattress ignited, filling a Bed-Stuy home with smoke and flames and trapping its residents inside. Amid high winds and snow, the FDNY made quick work of the fire, plucking a young girl from the second floor, just before she jumped. "This young girl was hanging out the window screaming, 'Help me! Help me!,'" recalled Joe Fischer, one of the firemen. "She looked like she was going to jump so we had to get to her quickly."

More firefighters went through the front door of the rowhouse on Marion Street and up the stairs, where they found a man lying unconscious. "I felt him laying on the floor, half way in the doorway and half into the hallway," firefighter Greg Chevalley told the Daily News. "I dragged him out of the building." The man, who is in his thirties, is now in critical condition being treated for second and third-degree burns that cover much of his body. "I really hope we can get some good news out of this one," said Chevalley, recalling this weekend's Bensonhurst fire that killed five. Another woman and the young girl are mostly unharmed. No news yet on what might have caused the mattress to catch fire.