Originally published at: Watch: Firefighter catches child thrown from building | Boing Boing
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Holy crap, that looked like some serious rag-doll physics. I hope the child was alright. I’m guessing that the kid must have been slipping out of the grasp of the person on the ladder.
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Defund the fire department. Just kidding. Give them a raise and all the equipment they need. Those people rule!
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I think the catcher is in position almost before he is off the balcony and it looks planned. It seems pretty desperate but if the child isn’t concious/breathing (hence the ragdoll) maybe they want first aid as fast as possible? That seems a pretty risky trade off though.
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To ignore the fear of fire, to put yourself in that harms way, this is courage, this is bravery, this is human beyond description, and they do it everyday without fanfare. Now that’s a miracle.
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The catcher definitely anticipated the possible need, but I would hope it wasn’t the first option. If the person on the ladder had a safe chance to being the kid down, it seems like it would have been a lot safer.
I feel like the catcher ran in anticipating the need, the person on the ladder didn’t quite have a safe grip on the kid, or felt he was unbalanced enough to risk falling, saw the catcher, and made a split-second decision that it was the better option.
In any case, amazing teamwork and trust.
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Since the tosser is already outside the fire I can think of only one reason for this–the child isn’t breathing, tossing is faster than climbing down the ladder. The ragdoll behavior makes it quite clear the child is unconscious. People rarely die from actual fire, it’s the smoke that’s the killer–and this kid is at best on death’s door.
Another possibility - there are two people who need getting out of the room - if the firefighter climbs down the ladder, hands off the first kid, then climbs back up, there’s a greater chance the second person dies waiting.
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That was my thinking too - he’s not set up to climb down carrying the child and they probably need oxygen fast.
The child seems to be unconscious and therefore unable to cling to the fireman as he climbs down the ladder. I think that’s why he dropped the child into the arms of the fireman below.
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