The FDNY released heartbreaking footage Friday of firefighters using rope in a rare maneuver to dramatically rescue three people from a burning New York City building. The fire left one person dead and 17 injured.
Incredible footage shows a brave firefighter hanging from a rope over the side of a Harlem apartment building, holding a rescued resident in his arms as smoke billows.
Aerial footage shot in night vision mode shows firefighters carrying out a daring rescue operation atop the six-storey building at 2 St Nicholas Place. Firefighters grabbed one end of the rope and another crew member slid off the building. A rope was hung over the window to capture the desperate residents.
FDNY Operations Director John Hodgens said, “Our member hung on to the rope and another member climbed down the side of the building on the rope, climbed down to the window and grabbed the person trapped in the fire.” . Firefighters and New York City Mayor Eric Adams held a press conference at the scene.
Incredible video captured the moment brave FDNY firefighters rescued three people from a rapidly progressing house fire in New York City on Friday. (FDNY)
E-bike battery explodes and burns out in NYC store: Video
“This happened three times in this fire. We had three firefighters doing this deployment. Usually it happens once every year or two. This is three people in one fire, very heroic.” It was a very personal move,” Hodgens said.
Hodgens said the fire was a “very difficult fire” and that his team was on scene within 3 1/2 minutes of receiving a 911 call about the inferno fire, which occurred around 2:15 p.m.
After fighting off some of the flames, they found three victims unconscious on the floor in the hallway above, while three more residents were screaming for help at the windows.
Hallways and stairs were blocked by smoke and flames, and three residents fled to windows, but it turned out there were no emergency stairs.
Firefighters had difficulty contacting the trio, so they decided to deploy a rescue method that Hodgens described as “an evolution of life-saving ropes.”
In the center is firefighter Jason Lopez, who was brought down to perform the heroic rescue. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is pictured on the far left. (Michael Appleton/Mayor’s Photography Office)
Democrats’ preferred green transportation method is causing explosions and deaths.
Firefighter Jason Lopez said his team trains twice a week in case life-saving measures are needed.
“We always train like it’s a production, so when the production happens, we know what we’re doing,” Lopez said. He thanked his colleague, who was clinging to a rope on the roof, saying he “trusted me with my life.”
Witnesses told Fox 5 they saw a person jump from the burning residential building. It is unknown whether this is the person who died.
“They were on the window sill and were trying to escape, but they were on the top floor all the way… They were clinging to the window. They couldn’t seem to hang on for long, so they fell to the ground.” witness Michelle Paradis told FOX 5 NY.
The FDNY has not yet confirmed the cause of the fire, but FOX 5 NY reports that an electric bike and its battery were seen being pulled from the building. Electric bicycle batteries are to blame for a sharp increase in fires in the city over the past few years. According to the FDNY, electric bikes caused 267 fires in the city in 2023, killing 18 people and injuring 150.
A fire broke out on Friday, blowing out the windows of a Harlem building where a rescue operation took place. (Michael Appleton/Mayor’s Photography Office)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Regina Shaw, a resident who lives on the top floor, told the New York Post that she and her son grabbed their dog and ran down the fire escape when the fire alarm started going off.
“Three firearm alarms went off, and then every alarm in the building went off,” said the 58-year-old former train driver.
“There was smoke coming out of the windows. There was smoke everywhere. You could hear people screaming. Just screaming.”
