Paris hero who ‘didn’t think’ before saving 4 children from apartment fire lauded by Macron, honored with medal

A Paris man is being hailed as a hero by top-ranking French officials, including President Emmanuel Macron, after he risked his life to save six people from the sixth floor of a burning apartment building in the City of Lights Friday, local media reported.

Footage shared on TikTok shows Fousseynou Cissé balancing on a narrow ledge outside a burning apartment, urging those trapped inside to pass their children to him as smoke billowed through the shuttered windows. He first helps two infants reach a nearby window before assisting others to safety.

French newspaper Le Parisian said the 39-year-old received a phone call from Macron praising his actions and was expected to be formally honored by the city.

“We must have spoken for a minute or two. I had goosebumps,” Cissé said.

Cissé had already left the building with his wife and child when a frantic neighbor told him two families were trapped on the top floor.

“I didn’t ask myself the question. There were lives at stake, I didn’t calculate,” Cissé told Le Parisian on Sunday.

He bolted to another neighboring apartment and stood on a thin rail connecting the two homes — risking a 65-foot drop.

The mothers gingerly handed the four children off to him one at a time. Once they were safe, Cissé helped the mothers out and all seven of them safely reached the ground as the building kept burning.

One of the rescued mothers told the outlet that she originally saw herself “dying with [her] children” as the fire raged on until Cissé came to the rescue.

A dozen other residents in the building were hospitalized for smoke inhalation, the outlet reported.

Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said that he plans to award Cissé with a medal “in recognition of his courage and dedication” on July 13.

“This medal recognizes republican courage that commands admiration,” Nuñez wrote on X.

Others have pushed for Cissé to be given the city’s highest honor, including the Medal of the City of Paris, French Socialist politician Emmanuel Grégoire suggested.

The coveted city medal is awarded to outstanding people nominated by the Council of Paris and other administrations. In the past, it’s been awarded to American icons like Michael Jackson and Toni Morrison.

With Post wires