A Wallingford man who was rejected for a Middletown firefighter's job last year became a hero Friday when he saved a woman's life in a New Haven fire.

Frank Ricci, 24, said he was only doing his job when he lifted the woman out of a third-story window and carried her down a 30-foot ladder while responding to a rooming house fire at George and Waverly streets.

Ricci, a probationary firefighter with New Haven Truck Co. 4, said he didn't have time to think about his own safety. His fire training just kicked in.