“My grandfather is still in there, and he’s in a wheelchair!” That’s the cry heard last month by an off-duty New Orleans firefighter outside a burning house in Algiers. In a report at fdnntv.com, without regard for his own safety, the firefighter crawled into the burning two-story house without any safety equipment.
Once inside, he found the elderly man on the first floor of the burning house. He placed the man in his wheelchair and got him out of the home safely without burn injuries. Additional fire crews arrived on the scene and rescued a dog from the home as they extinguished the blaze.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. The heat and humidity this summer has made working conditions even more dangerous for New Orleans fire crews. One firefighter commented that with all the equipment they wear going into a fire, 15 or 20 minutes is the most that they can operate before going back outside.
Fire personnel usually have facilities set-up at a fire scene where crews have access to misting fans and medical personnel to monitor their vital signs. However, the high summer temperatures can turn a one-alarm fire into a two-or three-alarm fire, said one firefighter.
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