Bravest gets Medal of Valor from Joe
An FDNY firefighter who rappelled down the side of a burning Manhattan building to save a 5-year-old girl was awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor by President Biden at the White House.
“You know you’re crazy, right?” Biden teased Firefighter Abraham Miller after placing the medal around the Miller’s neck in the East Room on Monday.
“He was breaking my shoes a little,” Miller recalled. “I started laughing as I walked off the stage.”
Miller was one of 15 cops and firefighters to receive the cherished award. Other awardees included Spring Valley, N.Y. volunteer firefighter Lt. Jared Lloyd, who was honored posthumously after giving his life rescuing 112 residents from the Evergreen Court for Adults on March 23, 2021.
The Medal of Valor was given to first responders who “exhibited exceptional courage, regardless of personal safety, in the attempt to protect others from harm” between 2019 and 2021, the White House said.
Miller and members of Engine Company 84 were responding to a Washington Heights apartment building fire on Sept. 29, 2020, when Miller, who was on the roof, heard screams and saw a tiny hand poking out from a window below him.
One of his colleagues secured a rope around him and lowered him down to the window, where a grandmother was trying to hold the small child out the window.
“I told her, ‘We’re coming, we’re coming, relax,’” Miller told the Daily News. “Once I had her in my arms, she was crying and I said, ‘Just put your arms around my neck.’ The ride down was the longest ever.”
A year later, Miller became the recipient of the Peter J. Ganci Jr. Memorial Award, the department’s highest annual award for bravery.
Miller’s family and Acting FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh were among the guests in the East Room.
“It was a great experience. I couldn’t believe I was standing there in the White House and in the presence of all these people who did something amazing,” Miller said. “I honestly felt a little guilty that it was me standing up there by myself. Over 100 people responded to that fire and my good friend Firefighter [Jairo] Sosa who lowered me down couldn’t make it. They saved just as many lives.”
When he returns to his firehouse, Miller knows that his colleagues who fought the 2020 blaze with him will be ready with some good natured ribbing of their own, much like Biden.
“They’re going to be very creative,” Miller joked. “I can’t even imagine how they are going to break my shoes when I get back.”