PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WHDH) - Dramatic cellphone video showed the moment a firefighter fell from a second-story window while escaping a raging fire in Providence.
The firefighter — lieutenant Michael Hilleah — crashed to the ground headfirst after other firefighters brought in ladders to help him get out.
“He fell from the building,” said chief Steven Houle. “He was coming down the ladder, he lost his grip and his footing on the ladder from the second-floor window and fell to the pavement.”
Hilleah remained on the scene with his crew, refusing to leave until the fire was out.
It was only after fellow firefighters urged him to go that he went to a local hospital to get checked out.
Members of the department say the incident is nothing they would consider to be out of the ordinary.
“It’s the job that we do,” Houle said. “They were very unselfish people entering that building. The amount of heat and fire in that building, knowing there were occupants in there.”
Hilleah was taken to the hospital with just minor injuries. Everyone inside the home escaped without injury.
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