Leo Gillick
When a group of construction workers realised a house was on fire, they jumped into action, using a rather novel way to rescue a boy trapped on the second floor.
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Hero’s Actions: Hearing people in distress, three construction workers ran to see if they could help. Leick Construction employees John Lewis, Gabe Record, and Damian Pond came across a house fire burning in Glenwood, Iowa.
- They leaped into action, conquering fears in an attempt to save the people from the burning building. Facing flames, the construction workers pushed through the inferno and pulled two women and a girl from the house.
However, there was still one child left. Hearing yet more terrified shouts, they looked up to see a boy trapped on the second floor. As the flames grew higher and the building started to crumble, they had to think fast.
Already, the fire was too furious to push through the ground floor. The stairs were out of the question. The construction workers had no firefighting gear, so they had to get creative.
A Soft Landing
Looking around the area, one of the construction workers spotted a trampoline that only had minor fire damage.
- Lewis, one of the construction workers, spoke to Fox about the fire escape plan. “I grabbed the trampoline, and me and another friend scooted over to the window. It was black with the flames and smoke.”
The boy, sitting on the windowsill of the building, had to be coaxed from the house fire by the construction workers. He dropped, and the guys were waiting there for him to guarantee a safe landing.
- “Once he hit the trampoline, I caught him and got him away from the building,” Lewis said. “We knew everyone was out at that point.”
The quick thinking and heroics of the construction workers saved four lives from a potentially fatal house fire. All three construction workers sustained injuries in their rescue. One had second-degree burns and required treatment in the burn unit. Pond received damage to both his eyes and face.
Ever humble, Record said, “I don’t look at it as being a hero or anything. I just did what any normal person would do.”
