Boy who tried saving dad from house fire doesn’t know he died

The little boy who valiantly tried to save his father from a Staten Island house fire doesn’t know yet that his beloved dad died in the blaze, family members told The Post on Monday.

“He is getting out of the hospital later today. We are going to be telling him about his father later,” Walter Carter, 29, said, referring to his 9-year-old brother, Tony Carter Jr.

Neighbors have said the dead man, college professor Anthony Carter, 62, “was everything” to his young son.

Tony Jr. desperately tried to drag his father out of their Rossville home when the man was overcome by smoke from the blaze around 11 p.m. Saturday. Failing to pull his dad from the flames, the distraught boy, his hands badly burned, ran out of the home screaming, “Help my father!… Help me!… He’s gonna die!”

Tony Jr. was treated for burns at Staten Island University Hospital North, where he remained Monday, unaware of his father’s fate.

“Tony is doing good,” said Calvin Carter, Walter’s twin. “They’re second-degree burns on his hands, but thankfully he’s doing well. He’s playing video games right now.”

When Calvin asked Tony Jr. he was feeling, the child replied, “It hurts.”

Both of the older boys were not home at the time of the fire.

The blaze is believed to have been started by a scented candle, officials said. The dad had just celebrated his birthday earlier in the night.