HERO CAB DRIVER SAVES FOUR KIDS FROM FIRE BY CATCHING THEM AS THEY JUMPED FROM A WINDOW

JAMAICA, QUEENS

A hero livery cabbie saved four kids from a house inferno in Queens early Sunday — catching them as they jumped from a second-floor window, neighbors said.
“A lady in the house was crying for help. … He went to the side of the house, and he told them all to jump,’’ said Tracy-Ann Thomas, 35, who lives across from the home at 167-11 140th Ave. in Jamaica.

“He had his hands stretched out and was catching every one of them.

“The whole house was smoking, and the flames were shooting out,’’ Thomas said of the 7 a.m. blaze.

“One of the kids even bumped him in the forehead’’ as they jumped, she said. “I told him, ‘You did good, you’re a star,’ and he kind of shrugged it off.’’

Thomas said she recognized the man, who told her he was a livery driver, from around the neighborhood.

Thomas’s daughter, Alecia Ricketts, 17, added that the hero “said he was coming from a party and that he was just dropping off a friend. But when he saw the fire, he wanted to help.

“I felt so bad for the family because they were fast asleep when the fire started,’’ she said.

“Some of them didn’t have all their clothes on. So I gave them slippers and sheets to wrap themselves up in.”

The family moved in just two months ago, the mom said.

Authorities said the fire started in the basement and did not appear to be suspicious.
Eight people were taken to Jamaica Hospital — five children and three adults — with apparently minor injuries.

Hours later, another house fire erupted in Queens Village, leaving one person dead and another injured.

That blaze started in the basement of the two-family home at 94-67 Springfield Blvd. shortly after 2 p.m., fire officials said.

According to a deputy fire chief at the scene, there were no working smoke detectors in the house at the time of the blaze.