The firefighter who died in a Harlem blaze ran out of compressed air and collapsed inꦯ a wall of blindinꦇg smoke as he tried to escape the burning basement, sources told The Post on Friday.
His fellow Bravest froꦓm Engine 69 made it to safety — and only realized Michael Davidson, 37, was missing wh𒐪en they got outside.
The father of four had passed out inside the St. Nicholas Avenue building 𝕴during the 11 p.m. chaos — and a short time later, he was dead.
The tragedy struck one floor below the shuttered St. Nick’s Jazz Pub, which was being used to shoot “Motherless Brooklyn” — an Ed Norton-written-and-directed film that he also stars in along with Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin.
They had shot scenes for the movie that day and were wrapping things u♛p when Nort𓄧on noticed smoke spewing from the basement.
The actor 𝔉flagged down a c🥂op from the NYPD’s Movie & TV Unit, and the officer radioed for help.
With the nozzleman Davidson leading the charge, the firefighters🍌 plunged into the darkness of the five-alarm cellar b💧laze.
They hauled ꦿtheir hose down a short landing onto the floor ඣof the former bar — then down another flight of stairs.
What they found was a hellscap🍸e of lapping flames and billowing smoke, with th🍷e base of the fire toward the rear.
One building resident, actor and singer Spelman Beaubrun, credited the FDNY heroes with saving his life — adding that none were more heroic than Davidson, for giving up his life for others.
“They did the best they could,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel N💙igro said at a presser.
But they were ordered by a deputy chief to fall back as their air supplies dwindled and the structural integrity of the nearly 100-year-old♍ building rapid☂ly deteriorated, sources said.
With the smokeeaters following their hose back out, Davidson made it as far as the bar before his air ran out, sources s💃aid.
In the pitch ཧblack of 😼the crumbling five-story brownstone, his colleagues never saw him drop, sources said.
By the time they made it out, realize♚d that Davidson was missing, aꦜnd went back in for him, he was passed out and badly burned on his legs, sources said.
“Despite the best efforts of the memberꦕs of the fire-fighting forces, EMS, and here at [Harlem Hospital], they were unable to revive Michael and he perished,” Nigro said.
Both the son and the brother of FDNY firefighters, Davidson also leaves behind a wife who beat breast cancer﷽ꦯ, three daughters — ages 1, 3 and 7 — and a 6-year-old son.
Two other firefighters were hospitalized with serious but non-life threatening injuries, and threꦬe civilians were treated for minor injuries at the scene.
As Davidson’s family and department mourned his loss ꧃on Friday, FDNY and NYPD investigators at the scene tried to piece together the cause of the deadly conflagration.
The NYPD’s Crime Scene Unit was spotted outside the building photographing a production tru🌠ck and𝕴 a number of “junction boxes” used for “Motherless Brooklyn” — which has been filming in the brownstone and surrounding neighborhood since March 6.
But there was no indicat��ion the shoot played a role in the blaze൲.
Investigators also want to look at the building’s boilerꦉ, which was worked on by the landlord as recently a𝕴s Wednesday.
Dep𝄹artment of Buildings records showed 21 open violations against the building dating back to the early 2000s, including at least two for failing to file an annual boiler inspection.
The landlord, Vin♏cent Solla🅺zzo, could not be reached for comment.
The investigation is hampered by hazardous conditions inside the blackened husk of the building, including unstable support beams and♏ about 2 feet of standing water in the cellar, sources said.
Cr𝕴ews must shore up the structure before sending fire marshals inside.
The death — the 1,150th of an FDNY member in the line of duty — comes as the department is already reeling from the passing of two other members in🌠 an Iraq helicopter crash just last week.
Davidson is the sixth member of the FDNY family to die in 12 days, a toll that includes 9/11 hero and cancer victim Marine Pilot Thomas Phelan, helicopter victims Christopher Raguso and Christo🐷pher Zanetis, and two retirees.
Norton on Friday extended “deepest condolences” from his film cast and crew to Davidson’s family.
Additional reporting by Khristina Narishnaya and Joe Marino