The fire raged at the $50 million dollar construction site, future apartments scorched and months of effort ruined.
And if it weren’t for the heroic efforts of the Houston Fire Department, a man could have lost his life in the blaze, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Witnesses in a nearby office building filmed the fire as it consumed the construction site, but were astonished to see a man perched on the balcony of one of the units. He had managed to avoid the largest part of the fire, but it was approaching dangerously quickly. At least four floors up, a jump to the bottom was not an option. Help was needed soon.
Firefighters rushed to the scene of the blaze during a March 2014 afternoon, prepared to battle the five-alarm fire that was destroying the property at an alarming rate. Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles around the Houston area, and luckily, everyone on the construction site managed to flee the building without injury.
That is, except one.
Firefighters jumped into position to save the lone straggler, who was perilously perched on the balcony. In the video, alarmed witnesses can be heard encouraging the rescue.
Just moments before the fifth floor above him was engulfed in flames, the man makes a risky attempt to leap from the fourth-floor balcony to a balcony below in order to avoid the fire. He makes it safely, but time is running out.
Soon, firefighters reached the construction worker, who carefully ambled onto the rescue ladder. Not seconds later, the fourth floor of the construction site crumbled. Had he been standing where he was just minutes earlier, he would have been lost to the fire.
The firefighters angle the ladder deftly away from the fiery debris that is falling from the failing structure, eventually coming to the ground with their biggest save of the day.
Their task was not yet complete, however. More than 200 firefighters remained on scene to knock down the fire, which was made even more difficult by the high winds and sheer size of the blaze itself.
Firefighters were able to contain the fire, eventually extinguishing it after two and a half hours. Nearby residents were shaken up, with many fielding calls from concerned friends and family who had seen the smoke.
Thankfully, everyone within the construction site was safe, including the balcony-leaper.
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