(WSVN) - A group of police officers rushed to help people from a burning building as the smoke and flames spread.
Rescuing people from a building was something officers Christopher Wiewiora, Wayne White and Ariel Clabaugh said they weren’t ever trained in.
“The burning apartment out back, there are three ladies on the balcony. They can’t get down,” said a man in bodycam footage on the day of the fire.
Officers spoke out about the fire escape, Thursday morning.
“We were basically just going to start to secure the scene, and then one of the neighbors said, ‘Hey, there are three ladies that are trapped on the second-floor balcony, and they can’t get down,’ because their apartment was right above the apartment that was on fire,” recalled White.
The three officers responded to these apartments in Orlando, early Sunday morning, when they realized time was their enemy.
“When I originally got there, all I see is these two running to the back of the apartment carrying a ladder. I was like, ‘OK, I guess that’s what we’re doing,'” said Clabaugh.
Officers Clabaugh and Wiewiora grabbed a ladder while officer White climbed up it to help the ladies get down, even if it meant facing his own fear of heights.
“Wayne was going up, and he told me later, he was afraid of heights. I thought ‘Oh, my God,'” said Wiewiora.
“Christmas decorations on my house, that takes everything out of me, so with heights and ladders and, uh, let’s go. Let’s get them down,” said White.
Everyone was able to make it out safely.
“Bravery is not the absence of fear, but the presence of action,” said Wiewiora.
The Orlando Fire Department said those situations are not very common, but they were glad that those police officers could help.
The women they saved are expected to be OK.
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