*A Philadelphia man went viral last week after video showed him climbing a 19-story building to save his mother from a fire — watch clip above.
According to reports, the man, who would identify himself to the media only as Jermaine, says he received a call from his sister about their mother’s high-rise apartment building being on fire. The 35-year-old raced over to the Westpark Apartments but was denied entry by police and firefighters. That’s when he scaled the outside of the building in an effort to rescue his bed-ridden mother.
“I climbed up with some barbed-wire cutters to cut the gate so at least the firefighters will be able to get upstairs,” Jermaine explained. “When I first got out there-there was a 100 cops out there, 50 firefighters. They said the whole building was on fire and they wasn’t letting nobody in…I took it upon myself because that’s my mother. There’s no limits for my mother.”
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Once he reached his mother’s apartment on the 15th floor, Jermaine saw that the fire had not reached her yet. His mother was safe and she and her boyfriend were told to wait on the porch while the fire and smoke were being contained, the report states. Once the threat was handled and his mother was no longer in danger, Jermaine made his descent down the side of the building and that’s when news cameras captured his heroic feat.
“I think if anyone else was in that circumstances they would do the same thing, because don’t nobody want to just sit outside and lose their mother,” said Jermaine.
He tells WPVI he expected to be arrested, but a police officer let him go.
Jermaine fell and cracked his hip earlier that day, but despite his injuries, adrenaline took over, 6abc.com reports — watch his interview with the outlet via YouTube clip above.
“All for my mom’s safety, period,” he tells WPVI. “I wasn’t worried about mine at all. She can’t get out of the bed or walk around so if there’s a fire she needs help out.”
James is a roofer and construction worker and said he learned how to climb buildings as a kid, noting “we used to jump roofs,” he told the outlet. “Glad I had the practice.”
His mother was OK, but according to the report, four people and three firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation.
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