Photo Courtesy of Fox 11
A Black DC Firefighter saved a toddler falling from a burning building.
On May 29, Jared McKinney, an employee with DC Fire and EMS, responded to a fire at an apartment building in Southeast DC.
McKinney, a wagon driver for Engine Co. 25, says he saw a man, later identified to be the child’s father, sitting on the two-story window sill of the burning building. The father yelled at McKinney to catch the two-year-old.
“He told me…’Catch my child, don’t drop him,’ and he dropped the child down, and I caught the child,” McKinney said.
“When he dropped the child down, I extended my arms, and when I felt the child made contact, I just cradled the child to my body. He then put the boy down, away from the fire and smoke to safety. I told him to stay right here with me and everything would be OK.”
The two-year-old’s family was also saved as firefighters brought them down using an extended ladder.
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McKinney, a father of two and a firefighter of 17 years, expressed how glad he was to help a fellow father.
“Me being a father myself, you always want to protect your kids. So I could definitely see in his face that he wanted to get his family to safety as quickly as possible by any means necessary,” McKinney said.
”I was just glad I was there to help him,” McKinney continued. “I’m just happy that we were here to do our job and do it to the best of our ability and make sure that everybody was able to safely go home.”
According to WUSA 9, “Seven people who lived in the building were evaluated by first responders but did not require transportation to a local hospital.” There were no injuries reported from the fire.