Firefighter Catches Child Dropped From Third Floor

Others rescued from windows, ledges in Boston blaze
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 17, 2011 1:27 PM CDT
Firefighter Catches Child Dropped From Third Floor
A predawn fire rages at a large apartment building in the Roxbury section of Boston, Monday, Oct. 17, 2011.   (AP Photo/Aram Boghosian)

A heroic story out of Boston: As their apartment building burned and Herbert and Judith Lamb tried to escape from the third floor, Judith was forced to drop her 6-year-old grandson out a window—and into the arms of a waiting firefighter. “I knew she wouldn’t be able to hold him until we got help, so they dropped him, and I caught him in my arms from the third floor,” the lieutenant tells the Boston Globe. “Then we got a ladder over to get the woman out.’’

The fire, which may have been set in a failed suicide attempt, destroyed the building and left 75 without a home. Ten residents, two firefighters, and one police officer were treated for smoke inhalation. More than a dozen other trapped residents were also rescued, some while dangling from windows and ledges. “Thank God I caught him,” says the lieutenant of the child he saved. “I’ve never had to do that before, and I hope I never have to do it again." (More firefighter stories.)

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