A hero off-duty firefighter jumped to the rescue – literally – when a man fell onto the subway tracks in the Union Square station Friday night.
Engine 10 firefighter Adam Rivera and his girlfriend were heading home around 10 p.m. after celebrating their 7th anniversary when they saw a man pass out and fall from the platform on the downtown tracks of the N/R/Q/W lines, the New York Post reported.
Risking life and limb, Rivera jumped down on to the tracks and skipped over a pair of third rails to rescue Marco Delamo, 45.
"I stepped closer to the edge and saw a man lying on his back on the tracks," Rivera told The Post. "People were panicking, but nobody was doing anything."
Delamo suffered a fractured skull and is recovering at St. Vincent’s.
"He was like a Superman," Delamo told the Post.
Rivera and his girlfriend had been celebrating their seventh anniversary. He apparently didn’t say anything to her before jumping off the platform and saving the day.
"I thought to myself, 'This is my job -- I'm a New York City firefighter, and I have to do something,' " Rivera said. "I knew I had one chance because the train was coming, and there was no time to be afraid."
Rivera grabbed him from behind in a "fireman's carry." Two good Samaritans on the downtown platform jumped down to join him, grabbing the sick man's legs. All three lifted him safely onto the platform.
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A doctor also waiting on the platform tended to Delamo until EMS could arrive.
Rivera, originally from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, has been a firefighter for one year.
It was a night to remember for Rivera's girlfriend. "She thought it was pretty cool," he said.
