Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York

Joseph Moore, 26, was hurt Friday after tumbling from his Ladder Co. 13 truck on a fire call to the Upper East Side.

"He's in and out of consciousness — he's still in that critical 48-hour period," said an FDNY spokesman. "He's presently listed as critical but stable, and he does have voice recognition."

Sources said Moore was nodding slightly when asked questions but wasn't speaking. It had been alleged the young firefighter's near-fatal fall was the result of a loose door on the side of the rig, but fire officials said yesterday that they were still investigating.

After the faulty rig — a 1988 Mack Tower Ladder that was replacing another truck being serviced — was taken out of commission, the next replacement, a 1991 Seagrave Straight Ladder, had a technical problem of its own.

The latest truck's ladder was stuck in the up position for more than an hour Saturday night as firefighters tried to respond to an alarm.

2 PERISH IN QNS. BLAZE

By JOE MOLLICA, JAMIE SCHRAM and DAN MANGAN

A man and a woman died yesterday morning in a suspicious fire in a Queens home that started after the owner kicked out two people.

But luckily, the elderly owner, Nina Durham, and several of her grandchildren were able to escape the fire on Bedell Street in Springfield Gardens.

"She's had this house for 40-something years. Her house is gone," said her granddaughter Giovanni Drakeford.

"Somebody set the house on fire. Why did he try to kill my family?" Drakeford said.

Drakeford said Durham, 70, told her she kicked two men out of the house at about 5:30 a.m.

The men had been socializing with Durham's cousin, 59-year-old John McDuffy, who lived in the basement, and Lisa Grissom, 40, one of the men's girlfriend, she said.

The fire began at the two-story home more than an hour later, at 6:55 a.m., officials said.

McDuffy, who was unemployed, and Grissom were trapped in the basement, where their bodies were found..

Durham "put Lisa's boyfriend and another guy out, and the next thing she knows, the floor was hot, and she sees flames," Drakeford said.

Durham, who lives on the first floor, then scrambled to evacuate her family, including up to five grandchildren, ranging in age from 11 to 19, who lived upstairs.

"My grandmother was yelling . . . 'get out, get out' . . . I had no shoes on and no socks. It was cold, we were all very scared," said Durham's granddaughter Kiasha, 11.

The fire was under control by 8:45 a.m.

A fire official called the fire suspicious and said they're investigating.