Staten Island Rescuers Save Baby

Hero emergency medical technician Wendi Ireland carried a precious package yesterday - a 6-month-old baby girl who'd been plucked from her family's burning apartment building on Staten Island.

As Ireland and fellow EMT Martin Finkelstein got to the two-alarm blaze at 220 Osgood Ave, baby Sierra, covered in ash, was in the arms of a firefighter climbing down a ladder from the top of the six-story building.

"I went straight to the baby," said Ireland, who has two years on the job and works with 20-year vet Finkelstein out of FDNY Battalion 22. "She was responsive, crying, but covered in ash and soot. Thank God she didn't have any burns."

Just over an hour later, Sierra was smiling and playful as Ireland and Finkelstein handed her over to her grateful aunt and uncle, who accompanied the child in an ambulance to Staten Island University Hospital.

Four people were injured, none seriously. The cause is under investigation.

"We checked with the hospital later to make sure she was all right, and she is - and that makes our day even better," Ireland said.

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