What you should know
- Officers Mark Kalwa and Vincenzo Rallo ran inside. Langston Hughes Houses in Brownsville last week after passing by the complex and spotting a fire on the fourth floor.
- Due to the fire, officers were unable to take the elevator. So instead, they used the stairs to make rescue after rescue.
- In total, 12 people were rescued.
NEW YORK — Police body cameras captured a dramatic rescue as a handful of officers ran into a burning building in Brooklyn, helping a dozen people to safety, including a pair of babies and a man on crutches.
Officers Mark Kalwa and Vincenzo Rallo ran inside. Langston Hughes Houses in Brownsville last week after passing by the complex and spotting a fire on the fourth floor.
“We heard screams for help, calls for help from the window,” Kalwa explained.
“When you hear the screams, it’s something inside you. You can’t just ignore that and wait for the fire, so we went up,” Rallo said.
Officers Kalwa and Rallo entered and were met with a wall of smoke.
“It’s pretty thick, hard to breathe, hard to see. I remember some people coming up to me as I was telling them to come to me,” Kalwa said.
“He had a flashlight, so he went in first and directed people towards me. I was at the door of the fourth floor stairwell when they came towards me, that’s when we started escorting people down,” Rallo explained.
Due to the fire, officers were unable to take the elevator. So instead, they used the stairs to make rescue after rescue.
“The first person who came was a mother with a child and she looked like she was going to fall, so I took the baby from her, helped her down the stairs and took the baby. And that was the first one we brought down,” he said. Grater.
“It was the most rewarding thing – having the child be safe was the coolest feeling,” he added.
The video shows Officer Kalwa helping a man on crutches escape the fire. Another officer arrives carrying a teenager with a broken leg down the stairs.
“Officer Alam put the boy down because the quicker he could get out, the better. He took him down the three flights of stairs and out the back door to safety,” Rallo said.
There were more children trapped on the fourth floor, so Officer Rallo and a firefighter helped a parent in desperate need.
“That’s when I saw the dad get out with the other two kids and he dropped to the ground. That’s when I took the other two kids to the car,” Rallo said.
The children were placed in an NYPD patrol car. In total, 12 people were rescued.
“It’s humbling to be there in their time of need and provide that service to them,” Kalwa said.
2024-02-20 00:21:38
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