Man bravely jumps into action to help cops save children trapped inside a burning apartment 

A brave man is being lauded after he saved two young children from a fire at an apartment building in Arizona.

Mesa, Friday morning at 11:15 a.m. Witnesses told a Mesa police officer that children were in the apartment. The police released bodycam footage showing the officer throwing rocks at the apartment window.

Apartments on fire in Mesa, Arizona
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Moments later, an unidentified male in a black hoodie walks up to the second-floor apartment’s window and jumps across the fence. Officials claim that he saw fire from nearby car wash and decided to abandon his vehicle to aid in the rescue.

Standing on an air condition unit, the man ripped out the window’s frame with his bare hands. He could smell the smoke rising around him and he reached inside to rescue a 2-year old girl who was still wearing a diaper. As she was taken outside, the toddler could be heard crying.

Man looking at a burning apartment in Mesa, Arizona
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The Good Samaritan took the baby and handed it over to an officer who was waiting on the ground. The officer grabbed the baby and carried her to the paramedics who were outside.

“There’s so much smoke in there that if you pass out, it could be deadly, obviously,” Jon Forrest of the Mesa Police Department said. “For that civilian to be so courageous (and) jump up there – he saved two kids’ lives today.”

A video from another officer’s body camera showed the unnamed man handing off a second child, reportedly six years old. Officer Jon Forest jumped on a shed to grab his child.

Man ripping out a burning apartment's window
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“Property and stuff, that can burn, but somebody’s life? We will put our lives at risk to save. Every other officer I work with, they’d do the same thing. They’d jump up on the shed. They are willing to do what they can to save someone’s life,” he said.

“According to all who were there, it if wasn’t for the citizen who assisted, the outcome of this incident may have been different,” the police said in a statement.

Police said the man didn’t want to be identified but said he only wanted to help rescue the children if he could, going “above and beyond to assist in getting these children to safety. He put his life on the line for these children.”

Man rescuing a baby from a burning apartment
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“Being there, seeing all the chaos, and hearing people screaming, was a very intense situation,” said Officer Brandon Ciprien. “Teamwork gets the job done. You can count on anyone, fire, police, or regular civilians to help you out.”

An overhead video of the scene showed many emergency vehicles and crews trying to extinguish the fire in the unit below.

Ladder crews were able put out the flames from the roof and prevented it from causing damage to other apartments.

“Hats off to the citizen who was back there. He was at the car wash minding his own business, recognized there was a fire back there, jumped the wall, left the car at the car wash and really did an outstanding job today and really saved two kids’ lives,” said Chad Serchen of the Mesa Police Department.

Police officers carrying a little girl rescued from an apartment fire
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More than 50 firefighters and police officers responded to the first alarm fire.

The children were taken by ambulance to a hospital where they were treated for smoke exposure. They are expected to make a full recover. Four other officers were also taken to hospital with minor injuries. They were eventually released.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire that destroyed four apartments. There were no other injuries.

This man deserves kudos for his quick action to save the little girls. He’s a real hero! The video below shows the dramatic rescue.

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