Update on Houston ladder rescue: Firefighters from Station 18 tell their story
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Previous coverage & raw video from rescue
KPRC-TV interviewed the firefighters from Houston Fire Department Station 18 about one of the most dramatic rescues we’ve seen in some time. The video of a worker barely escaping Tuesday’s 5-alarm fire in a large apartment building under construction has made news around the world.
Senior Captain Brad Hawthorne with the Houston Fire Department was on a ladder truck and was trying to get to him.
“I said, ‘alright…come on,'” Hawthorne said. “He had to make a leap, he kind of jumped and grabbed on. I said, ‘Hang on!'”
“Within a couple of seconds the roof caved in and the whole fifth floor went out,” Hawthorne said. “It was pretty hairy. Just the noise from the fire, the cracking and popping of all that wood…it was pretty loud.”
Hawthorne told Local 2 he never would have successfully completed the rescue if it weren’t for his fellow firefighters from Station 18.
Dwayne Wyble was behind the wheel of truck. It was his job to line the ladder up perfectly which allowed for a safe rescue.
