by Denise Romano
A hero firefighter plunged into the chilly East River yesterday and plucked a drowning woman to safety, officials said. Firefighter Dan O'Keefe, who just underwent cold-water rescue training, slipped into a wet suit as his fire truck raced to the riverbank at E. 106th St., then jumped in around 4 p.m. The unidentified drowning woman, who is 50, was floating in the water, at least 150 feet off the shore. O'Keefe handed the woman a safety board and pulled her to safety, with the help of fellow Ladder 43 firefighters. "I couldn't have done it without all these guys," said O'Keefe, 27, whose father was also a firefighter. "It was aperfect scenario. Everything went supersmoothly." The woman was taken to Metropolitan Hospital, where she was recovering last night.
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