Metro

WATCH: Daring high-rise jump to save 2-year-old in Manhattan fire

A 2-year-old child trapped in a burning apartment was rescued by his uncle, who risked his life by making a desperate jump from an eighth-floor window onto a firefighter’s ladder.

The drama unfolded yesterday morning as the fast-moving blaze threatened to engulf the apartment in a high-rise housing project at 388 Pearl St. in lower Manhattan.

William Febow, 22, fearing for his nephew Emory Vasquez, believed the only way for himself and the boy to escape was a ladder being put up by firefighters.

But the ladder was more than a foot away from the window.

Thinking he did not have a second to spare, Febow did his aerial leap to the ladder — and held on.

He waited at the top of the ladder for Emory’s mom, Justine Morel, to pass the child to him.

“Justine handed me the baby from the window. We just needed to get him to safety. I was scared for my life but I did what I had to do it to protect my family,” Febow recalled.

“I’m no hero. I just went with my instincts.”

Two firefighters, Sal D’Agostino and William Benitez, watching from the ground, rushed up the ladder and told Febow to stay where he was.

“Once the baby was on the ladder, that was a top priority,” Benitez said.

“I really wanted to get control of the baby. [Febow is] on the ladder facing the wrong way with the baby in his hands.

“I got up to him and grabbed hold of the baby and passed the baby back to Sal,” he said.

Meanwhile, Morel and another woman were hanging out another window, screaming that they were about to jump.

Benitez told them to stay inside.

“We were able to get water on that fire really fast, and take them out safely through the interior of the apartment,” Battalion Chief Ron Schmutzler said.

Firefighters also rescued another relative of Morel who had tried to take refuge in the smoky eighth-floor hallway.

A total of five people were taken to New York Downtown Hospital.

All but Morel were treated and released. She suffered throat burns and was listed in stable condition.

Emory’s father, Hector Vasquez, who was not in the apartment when the blaze broke out, said “my son has asthma, so I was extra worried about his safety.

“But he’s OK. As long as he’s OK, that’s all that matters.”