Two tenants in the building on E. 178th St. in Tremont are on trial for illegally cutting up their apartments into a maze of rooms that prosecutors say trapped the firefighters.

A second jury hearing the same case will decide the fate of a building manager and the company that owns the building, which are accused of approving the subdivision.

Meyran, Bellew and four other firefighters became trapped in rooms without fire escapes as flames spread.

They had no personal safety ropes and had to jump out the windows to a concrete courtyard.

A paramedic described the chaotic scene when he raced to the back of the building after hearing frantic radio calls about firefighters jumping out the building.

Robert Tomaselli, an emergency medical technician, said he spotted a half-dozen badly hurt firefighters sprawled in the bloody snow and ice.

"There was a mayday over the air, a firefighter down in the back," said Tomaselli. "There were other firefighters [all over] the area."

Tomaselli said he and his partners rushed to help Meyran and Bellew but had to step over other firefighters screaming in agony - a sign they were less severely hurt in the deadly jump.

"Two were severely unstable," Tomaselli said. "The other gentlemen were awake and screaming."

The paramedic said he tried to help Bellew while his partner went to Meyran's side.

A firefighter helped him strip off the dying man's oxygen tank and gear, so he could make a vain effort to revive the stricken man.

Another firefighter died in Brooklyn a few hours later, marking the only time in memory that separate fires claimed the lives of FDNY firefighters on the same day.

dgoldiner@nydailynews.com