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A hero dad saved his family yesterday from a fire that swept through their historic Brooklyn townhouse - then had to be pulled unconscious to safety by firefighters.
Peter Goding, 39, stayed inside his burning home until he roused his wife and teenage daughter, and tossed his two baby daughters out a window to a waiting neighbor on St. James Place in Clinton Hill.
"Peter was trying to make sure everybody got out," said Candy Stolo, 32, a relative.
But Goding could not save himself. He collapsed in a bedroom, where firefighters crawled through choking smoke to rescue him.
"They're good people. I'm happy they're okay," said friend Michael George, whose car parked outside was charred by the intense blaze.
The drama unfolded as Goding slept in the house with his wife, Sharon, and daughters Crystal, 15, Marisa, 2, and 11-month-old Brianna. Neighbors spotted a fire on the front porch around 5:30 a.m. and an alarm sounded inside the house, spurring Goding to wake up his family.
After getting his wife and Crystal out, he tossed the two babies out the window, his family said.
Firefighter Capt. Richard Abbott crawled through heavy smoke to find Goding lying on the floor. Firefighters Eugene Soladis and Mike Russo helped in getting the tall victim to safety.
"It took us all to get him and carry him towards the door," said Abbott, a 27-year veteran of the department.
Even the family's dog, Chris, was saved, and was resting on a neighbor's sofa after firefighters doused the blaze about an hour after it erupted.
Goding was taken to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where he was being treated in a hyperbaric chamber for severe smoke inhalation. He was expected to survive.
"The doctor said we have to pray the next couple of days," said Pam Messam, 40, Goding's sister-in-law.
With Fernanda Santos
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