by KELLY MAGEE
Battling zero visibility and searing heat, FDNY Lt. James Congema single-handedly rescued three family members trapped in their Bronx apartment and helped save two others.
In the early-morning hours of March 23, 2007, Congema and two members of the forcible-entry team were first to arrive at the blazing, two-story building at 171 Unionport Road in Parkchester.
They made their way down a 30-foot, smoke-filled hallway, only to find the first-floor apartment door jammed. They broke through and found the first unconscious victim.
Congema, 40, and his fellow firefighters quickly located a second victim 10 feet away.
The other firefighters took them to safety while Congema got on his hands and knees and crawled deeper into the apartment.
He found two more unconscious victims and pulled them out.
Congema went back inside, past two rooms that had been completely engulfed in flames, to a second bedroom. He entered even though the windows were blocked by safety bars and might have trapped him had the flames spread.
"The last one was a young girl," Congema recalled. "After I found her in the bedroom I started the extrication myself." He carried her in his arms to safety just in the nick of time.
Congema's heroics helped save single dad Efrain Ramos Sr., 43, his son, Efrain Jr., 18, daughters Jennifer, 17, and Jessica, 10, and Ramos' brother, Carlos Beltran.
Congema lives on Long Island with wife Deanne and their three children, Emily, 3, Ashley, 16 months, and Andrew, 3 months.
"At the time you're thinking of the task at hand, what you're trained to do, and your instincts," he said. "After the fact, you think of your family right away."
"I feel great, it's rewarding to be involved in something like that," said Congema, who was nominated by the FDNY for a Liberty Medal in the Bravest category.
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