NEW YORK — Juan Ramon Perez says he and his neighbors are happy to be alive after a fire broke out in their Sunset Park building Friday night, injuring 16 people.

“I banged my neighbors’ doors so they can get out, and then I broke the window so we could get out the back,” third-floor tenant in the building said.

Officials said the fire broke out around 11 p.m. Out of the 16 injured, five were in critical condition — including a 4-year-old boy who was in cardiac arrest when officials found him in a second-floor bedroom.

"Units found a heavy fire condition on the second floor, where one of our officers found a child on the second floor in the fire department in cardiac arrest," Assistant FDNY Chief Michael Gala said. "They quickly removed that child to the street. At the same time, members found several victims on the top floor and removed them expeditiously from the fire building."

Perez said he sustained some bruising after hopping out of the back window.

“I got hit here, here and here,” Perez said, pointing to bruises on his body. “At that moment I thought, either I live or die.”

Sixty firefighters responded to the scene, tackling heavy flames on the second and third floors that took 45 minutes to get under control.

Felix Ventura, who has lived the building next door for 20 years, said it was a scary scene for many people on the block.

“One of the fire guys said, ‘Oh, it’s going to blow, it’s going to blow,’” Ventura said. “So we all ran down the block, even cops ran down the block.”

Many residents returned to the building Saturday to retrieve belongings. Perez says he has no idea when he will get a new place, but says he’s grateful.

“I’m alive. God helped me and protected me. Thanks to God, I’m standing right here,” Perez said.

Fire officials were investigating the cause and origin of the fire.

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