At FDNY Medal Day, honoring heroes

Firefighter Michael Kotzo had to act fast. 

Standing on the roof of a blazing Harlem building last year, Kotzo had just lowered fellow firefighter Jason Lopez and the fire victim who Lopez had rescued from a top floor apartment to the ground with a rope, where both Lopez and the victim could receive medical attention. The blaze, caused by an exploding lithium-ion battery, had trapped residents who lived above the third-floor apartment where the fire started. One resident had already fallen from a window trying to escape the smoke and heat.  

After lowering Lopez, Kotzo and other firefighters on the roof spotted another building resident leaning out of a top-story window and realized that, to save the New Yorker from the burning building, Kotzo would have to be lowered down on the same rope. FDNY firefighters rarely attempt rope rescues and when they do, it’s conventional wisdom not to use the same rope twice for fear of placing too much strain on it. 

But with limited time to rescue victims from the smoke and fire inside the building, Kotzo secured himself to the rope without a second’s hesitation and rescued the resident, supporting the person’s full weight all the way to the ground. 

For his instrumental role in two of the rescues that cold February day, Kotzo was awarded the FDNY’s Peter J. Ganci Medal, the department’s highest recognition for valor at the department’s 156th medal day ceremony on the steps of City Hall Wednesday. Kotzo, a 21-year firefighter with Ladder Company 28 in Harlem, was also awarded the New York State Honorary Fire Chiefs Association Medal.  

The department gave out six medals for actions taken during the Feb. 24, 2024, fire at 100 St. Nicholas Place in Harlem, during which firefighters performed three rope rescues. Four of the firefighters present at the rescue, including Kotzo and Lopez, were also honored at Madison Square Garden last year during a Big East tournament game  

“We have a job to do,” Kotzo said in a video created by the FDNY in the lead up to Medal Day. “I feel good that it was a successful rescue that day, none of our guys were injured and we were able to save three people. It’s a good feeling.” 

Other top-medal earners on Wednesday included EMTs Mitchell Tarnapolsky and Amber Black of Station 43 in Coney Island who were jointly awarded the Christopher J. Prescott Medal. On July 6, 2024, Tarnapolsky dove into the water off of Coney Island to rescue two minors, one of whom was intermittently disappearing beneath the waves, while Black coordinated from the shore. 

Tarnapolsky helped the pair — who are brothers — to the shore where Black and several other EMTs and paramedics who arrived on the scene provided medical care. Tarnapolsky, who dove back into the water to help a third person who had attempted to rescue the brothers, said that receiving the Prescott Medal was “an absolute honor.”  

“We do this for beachgoers, and we do this because we love the community,” he said. “We will be on the boardwalk again this summer to make sure that everybody stays safe.” 

About 70 members of the department were awarded medals, which included a new award named for Dr. Sheldon Jacobson, who launched NYC's first paramedic program in 1974. That award was given this inaugural year to Paramedic Franklin Kupferberg and will be awarded in the future to a paramedic who demonstrates “stellar, advanced life-saving skills and service.” 

It was the first Medal Day presided over by FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker, who said he was “humbled” to celebrate the heroes of the department.  

“Today we celebrate the best of the best,” Tucker said. “This is what it is all about. Knowing that the work you do really matters and that on any given day you can go from great to extraordinary.” 

dfreeman@thechiefleader.com