An off-duty Staten Island firefighter saved an elderly couple—and their cat—on Christmas night from a blaze that started after their Christmas tree caught on fire. "My instinct just kicked in,"37-year-old Ladder Company 81 member Steven Carl told the Daily News. "I just did what I was trained to do." more ›

A Brooklyn firefighter is badly burned after a manhole exploded under a parked car that he was moving after making sure its occupant was at a safe distance. Lt. Richard Buckhelt, a 16-year-veteran of the FDNY, responded to a call from Pablo Mejia of smoke billowing from a manhole on Lincoln Road underneath a Honda Accord. Mejia tells the Post, "He took my keys, got in, and right when he tried to back up, that manhole exploded with him in [the car]." A witness says he "just heard 'Boom!' and the car went up in the air. There were a lot of flames and smoke." Buckhelt is being treated for first and second degree burns on his face and hands. more ›

Successful Jeopardy contestant Brian Levinson and his circus clown friend Eric Broomfield were rescued from their burning Queens apartment by the FDNY early Saturday morning. 33-year-old Levinson, who won $73K in prize money from Jeopardy in 2008 and has appeared on the game show Cash Cab, retained burns to 12% of his body, including his face, head, and arms. Firefighters helped Levinson out of the building, while Broomfield had to be carried out. "I found him in the bathroom," Ladder 163 Captain Jim Hay tells the Daily News, "It was heavy smoke condition. He couldn't get past the fire." more ›

We've got some damn tasty sandwiches in this city, no doubt about it. So today the Times gives New Yorkers a collective pat on the back, surveying seven high points in our spectacular sandwich landscape, including Taim's green falafel, the Knish Press (a sandwich composed in a split knish) from Press 195, and – in a surprise nod to nearby Montclair – the Benny Mac (a heart-attack-inducing chicken cutlet sub topped with mac-and-cheese, barbecue sauce and bacon). more ›

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg met with Joseph Zadroga, whose son James was a NYPD detective and worked hours of rescue and recovery after the 2001 World Trade Center attacks. James Zadroga's death has been controversial, as the NYC medical examiner's office ruled that his death was not due to exposure to toxic WTC dust but prescription drug abuse, findings that contradicted the expert opinion of two other doctors. Bloomberg entered the fray when he said that... more ›