Newsday

Gabriela Rogers, known as "Gabi," suffered severe burns over 70 percent of her body by the time two city firefighters crawled through thick smoke and heavy heat Thursday evening to rescue her from the second-story hallway of the burning building at 354 Stuyvesant Ave., fire officials said.

As of Friday evening, Gabi was still at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, and the family had requested no information be released about her condition, according to a hospital administrator.

Neighbors said the girl's father, Herbie Rogers, had left her in the care of her 14-year-old brother while he stepped out of the home to shop at a nearby bodega, returning to find the house in flames around 7:20 p.m.

"When I got here, he was standing in the door calling for his daughter, 'Gabi, Gabi,'" said Walter Curtis, 54, who has lived across the street from the Rogers since 1995. "He was about to go in when fire trucks got there."

Firefighters arrived to find flames pouring out of the aluminum-sided building, fire officials said.

As they made their way through the house, Lt. Mark Gregory and Firefighter John Norman found the girl conscious and crying, FDNY spokesman Tim Heaton said. Heaton said the two had to slip beneath flames that were spurting into a hallway to reach the girl. Norman used a water cannon to push back flames while Gregory carried the girl out of house.

The girl was conscious when taken to the hospital and recognized her family and had asked about two dogs in the house - both died in the fire - before doctors made the decision to sedate her, said a neighbor and family friend who would only give his name as Arnold.

Arnold said he was caring for the Rogers' 18-month-old daughter. He said the family is currently living out of a Manhattan hotel secured for them by the American Red Cross.