NY Daily News

Heroic firefighters from Ladder 138 and Rescue 4 saved three badly burned little girls from a family named Sandoval - Naomi, 7, Alexandra, 4, and Carolina, 3. Their parents were also carried alive from the building, but the mother died that night. The father had both legs amputated and died two weeks later.

The three girls were rushed from the fire to the Weill Cornell burn unit, where the original prognosis was grim. Naomi was not expected to live. Alexandra was expected to go blind. But after months in the burn center, the girls made miraculous recoveries. All survived. Alexandra maintained her sight. They were transferred to St. Mary's Hospital for Children in Bayside. After eight months of hospital care, they were released to their aunt, Reyna Gomez.

"This woman was unbelievably dedicated to these children," says Capt. Dan Mundy, now an FDNY Battalion Chief, who was at that fire. "Conversations I had with the staff at the burn center and St. Mary's spoke volumes of her commitment to these children. She was at the hospital every day, loaded with Tupperware filled with home-cooked food for her nieces. Through sleepless nights, the children endured, waking up with nightmares. And always, there was Aunt Reyna."

Since then, Gomez, a living saint, and her husband. Sigfredo, have raised those three kids in a College Point apartment and nurtured them through two years of physical and emotional trauma, recurring nightmares, and wrenching visits to Cypress Hills Cemetery to pray over their mother's grave.

Some of the firefighters who saved the lives of these kids received the highest medals bestowed by the FDNY. But long after the smoke cleared and the medal ceremony ended, those firefighters are still fighting to help give the girls - now 9, 6, and 5 - a shot in life.

"Naomi, the oldest, received the worst burns, including serious scarring on her face," says Mundy. "She had to be fed through a tube for six months because her throat was so badly burned from the high heat. She also received burns over most of her body that required her to wear a JOBST body suit, specially designed to help with burn scarring. Alexandra, the middle kid, also has scarring on her face and body and Carolina has scars on her body and hands. Both still wear JOBST suits."

We all live in fear of fire. Fires during the holidays are the most tragic. What few of us ever imagine is that these tragedies become perennial holiday horrors. Every time these kids look in the mirror, they see Dec. 15, 2004. Every time Dec. 15 rolls around, it's another year, another Christmas, without their parents. But Reyna Gomez, whom the three Sandovar girls call "Tete," is Mrs. Santa 365 days a year.

The aunt says that sometimes other kids can be very cruel. "Maybe they call one of my girls ugly or make fun," she says of the scarring. "But I tell them every day that they are my three little beauties. I have grown children. And now God has given me three beautiful little girls to raise, too. And these firemen are our heroes.

"But this time of year is hard," Gomez adds. "The little one still wakes up at night sometimes asking about Mommy and Daddy. But they are doing good. We will go my son's house in Jackson Heights and try to make a very nice Christmas."

Mundy and other firefighters have not forgotten the rescued kids. "We were originally able to get some press coverage, and the family received some donations," says Mundy. "But I know the family lives on a tight budget. Also, their old van that Reyna used to take the kids back and forth to the hospitals, where they are still being treated, has finally died."

Gomez told me she donated it to the Salvation Army.

Here's a woman who dedicates her life to raising three kids literally out of the ashes and still finds time to give her old jalopy to the Sally Army to help others, and then takes buses and subways to the hospitals with the three girls.

We don't give out special medals to macho firefighters with hearts like marshmallows who make sure the orphaned kids they pull from the smoke are not forgotten. We also don't give out medals to fairy-tale aunts like Reyna Gomez who, after losing her sister Flora, gives three wounded kids the daily gift of life itself.

So here's the deal: Mundy and the brave firefighters who saved these kids are asking the rest of us to help make this a decent Christmas for the rescued girls.

Checks or gifts may be sent c/o Reyna Gomez, 20-34 125th St., 2nd floor, College Point, N.Y. 11356