An officer who nearly died trying to save people from a smoky fire spoke exclusively with NY1's Dean Meminger, saying though she's still trying to recover, she would do it all over again.

NYPD officer Rosa Rodriguez knows she's lucky to be alive. She was critically injured after racing into a building fire in Coney Island last year.

"I just wanted to go knock on people's door and help them, help them to get out [of] the fire," she says.

The officer spent six weeks in the hospital recovering. Her partner, Dennis Guerra, unfortunately died after they got trapped in the thick smoke.  

Rodriguez still struggles to speak. She suffered severe lung damage.  

Rodriguez: My health is not too good.
Meminger: Will your voice get stronger? Tell me what's going on with the voice.
Rodriguez: My voice is going to stay like this. It's permanent.
Meminger: Permanent.
Rodriguez: Yes.

Rodriguez and 50 other officers were honored at the police union's annual Finest of the Finest awards ceremony for their heroic actions. That includes the officers who were attacked on a Queens street by a man with a hatchet. Several officers who were shot on the job were also saluted.

Rodriguez has not spoken publicly about her near-death experience until now. She and Guerra were driving to their precinct when they saw the smoke coming from the Unity Tower housing development and raced in.

A teenager was charged with murder and arson for intentionally setting a mattress on fire in the hallway. He said he was bored.

Rodriguez had advice for her brothers and sisters in blue.

"To be safe, to be safe out there," she says. "To help other people, but be safe also."

Rodriguez says she actually went back to work this month in an administrative capacity. But the bottom line is, she's still a police officer and is ready to jump into action if she has to."

Meminger: Would you run back in again?
Rodriguez: Absolutely, yes.
Meminger: That's hard to believe. I mean, why would you do it?
Rodriguez: In my heart, that's how I feel. 

That's why she saluted as the Finest of the Finest.