Post’s Page 1 hero tells of baby rescue

The firefighter who was captured in a front-page Post photo rescuing a baby from the deadly Bronx fire recalled Monday clinging to his ladder as the infant’s mom handed him her child.

FDNY Bravest Matt Zimpfer, 45, insisted that he’s not a hero — and that the harrowing moment was just part of the job.

Zimpfer (pictured above) said his truck was the fourth brought in to fight Sunday’s five-alarm blaze on East 181st Street, which ended up killing 17 people, including eight children. He said that as soon as he arrived, he leapt into action.

“There was a male on the third floor sitting on the windowsill. He had taken the window glass out himself and was sitting there dangling his legs outside the window,” Zimpfer, who is with Engine 46/ Ladder Co. 27, told The Post by phone.

“There were three adults and the baby,” he recalled.

Zimpfer and his crew lifted an aerial ladder up to the window, and as the 19-year veteran clung to the rungs, the baby’s mother handed him the child as the other adults climbed down to safety.

“They basically crawled underneath me as I stood on the rails of the ladder, and then the mother handed me the baby,” Zimpfer recalled.

“The mom was behind me. She said, ‘Thank you.’ ”

Ace photographer Tomas E. Gaston captured Zimpfer clutching the child as the baby, wrapped in a blue blanket, cried.

“The baby, although coming from a moderate to severe smoke condition, was awake,” the firefighter said. “[He] appeared to be doing well at the time.”

Zimpfer said he brought the baby down the ladder and wasn’t sure what happened to him next. But two residents who know the family told The Post that the child was reunited with his mother, who is from Gambia, and that the pair are doing well.