A savvy 11-year-old Brooklyn girl, who was stuck on a faulty fire escape trying to flee a burning building, rescued her 3-year-old brother — by tossing him into the arms of some Good Samaritans below.
Janixia Soto, 11, made the desperate decision around 5:42 a.m. as she, her brother and their mom were trying to escape their smoky third-floor apartment at 83 E. 18th Street in Prospect Park South.
“It seemed like he was in his own shock because he barely cried,” Janixia told the Post shortly after her heroics. “My mom called me a hero. I don’t really describe myself as a hero. I was just saving my brother. Family comes first.”
The fire had broken out in a grocery store located on the first floor, engulfing the family’s home two floors above in clouds of smoke.
Gasping for air, they fled down the fire escape but could only reach the second floor because the ladder heading down to street level didn’t work.
After the mother, Michelle Soto, went back up into their apartment to rescue their cat and dog, Janixia took matters into her own hands and got her younger sibling, Walter Ramirez, to safety.
“There was one guy standing there, and he told me to drop him, Janixia said. “I was scared, but then there was a bunch of guys forming circle, and I was more comfortable dropping him.”
“I was shocked,” the youth added. “I was thinking, ‘I hope this works!” I hope this works! I hope this works!’
“I am grateful because without them it would have been so much more difficult to get to safety. We were absolutely trapped.”
As the Good Samiritans caught the toddler, Michelle Soto watched as she was climbing back out of the apartment window with her dog. At the time, she could not find the cat.
Firefighters arrived soon after, and mother and daughter were able to climb down to safety via a fire ladder.
Janixia said no one was injured – even the family cat was later found unharmed.