A roofer jumped into a vat of acid to save his co-worker who fell 40 feet through the roof into the liquid. NorthJersey.com reports that the men were working on the roof of the Swepco Tube LLC tubing company in Clifton when one fell and was fully submerged in a solution that contained 40-70% nitric acid. The worker was waist-high in acid pulling his peer out, while three other employees assisted. "It takes a lot of courage," Fire Chief Vince Colavitti said, in what strikes us as an understatement. more ›

The man who appeared to chuckle with his buddy while recording video of an intoxicated man rolling around on the subway tracks contacted us to expand on what isn't seen in the original videos, which he's since removed from YouTube. (One of the videos lives on because another YouTube user recorded it with his iPod Touch.) Two additional videos were uploaded yesterday showing the documentarian helping an MTA worker get the inebriated victim up onto the platform. (His friend declines to help because of all the blood.) more ›

Authorities say that a teenage volunteer firefighter had a hero complex after charging him yesterday with four counts of murder for setting a nearby home on fire with its family inside. 19-year-old Caleb Lacey knew that a neighboring family of his was inside the North Lawrence apartment building when he set it on fire with gasoline so that he could be the one to put it out. more ›

Some said Mayor Bloomberg was a miracle worker when he saved himself from a requisite departure and found a way to rewrite the city's term limits laws with a simple wave of the hand. But today the mayor stepped in and took part in some real life heroics, nearly having to perform CPR on a Lehman College student who passed out behind him during a press conference. City Room says that when Emmanuel Vega fainted at a press conference on CUNY's growing enrollment, Bloomberg "searched for a pulse in his neck, helped unbutton his shirt and tried to get the student...to start talking." Once Vega regained consciousness, Bloomberg instructed the young man to stay down until police arrived. The mayor said, “He seems okay. He said he hadn’t eaten any breakfast, so he just needed some food or water or it’s hot in here." The superhero bug must be going around City Hall these days—two weeks ago Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler broke up a mugging in midtown. more ›