Dramatic video shows firefighter catch child thrown from 3rd floor during raging fire

A dozen trapped people were rescued from the blaze, officials said.

ByABC News
January 15, 2018, 3:59 PM

— -- Dramatic, high-definition helmet-camera video captured the moment a Georgia firefighter caught a child thrown to safety from a third-floor balcony amid a raging fire.

"I heard the screams" at the 2.5 alarm fire at an apartment complex earlier this month, DeKalb County assistant fire chief Jeff Crump told reporters. "Quickly they got that ladder up to that third-floor balcony and got them down."

PHOTO: In a video caught by a helmet camera, firefighter Capt. Scott Stroup catches a young child dropped by a parent who was climbing down a ladder from a third-floor balcony early on Jan. 3, 2018.
In a video caught by a helmet camera, firefighter Capt. Scott Stroup catches a young child dropped by a parent who was climbing down a ladder from a third-floor balcony early on Jan. 3, 2018.

It was third-generation DeKalb County firefighter Captain Scott Stroup who was seen on video catching a child dropped from the third floor, the fire department said. Another firefighter also caught a young child, the fire department said.

"We don't encounter that pretty often," Crump said. "Obviously the parents trusted us enough to drop their children to our captains. And they made the catch."

A dozen trapped people were rescued from the blaze, the Dekalb Professional Fire Fighters Local 1492 wrote on Facebook Sunday.

"They did an outstanding job," Crump added. "Everybody on that scene did a great job."