The FDNY firefighter who almost died while battling a Bronx house fire was released from the hospital Sunday to a rousing round of applause from fellow first responders.
Father of two Kevin Paulicelli walked out of Jacobi Medical Center under his own power just two days after he suffered respiratory arrest and was rushed to the Bronx hospital.
Firefighters from the Bronx and Queens were on hand to greet the 38-year-old who shook hands with each of his fellow Bravest during the touching moment, FDNY footage shows.
Paulicelli reported “having a difficult time breathing” as he and others moved in on the intense flames inside the two-story house Friday afternoon, FDNY officials said at the time.
He passed out from smoke inhalation before he got out of the house.
Other first responders dragged him to the sidewalk and two medics began administering a life-saving drug, hydroxocobalamin, that reverses the effects of cyanide poisoning, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said Friday.
Paulicelli called it a “miracle drug” outside the hospital on Sunday.
“That usually is the thing that kills you. More often than the fire, itself, is that deadly smoke,” Paulicelli, who is also an Army veteran, said, according to CBS 2 NY.
“So the fact that it can reverse that poisoning and that it can actually revive someone it really is a miracle drug.”
Another firefighter was briefly hospitalized following Friday’s fire at a home in Clason Point that took nearly two hours to get under control.
“To all of our members here, everyone did a phenomenal job,” Paulicelli said, per CBS 2. “Everyone. What they did to me saved my life.”
