Last week, a West Philadelphia man identified as Jermaine was caught on camera scaling a 19 story burning building to save his bed-ridden mother.
What We Know:
- Jermaine claimed that the news only caught him climbing down the building which led to assumptions that he was trying to escape when in actuality he was trying to do whatever he could to rescue his mother.
- WPVI-TV in Philadelphia reported that Jermaine received a call from his sister Thursday night and rushed to the scene of the fire. Jermaine tried to go through the front door but was turned away by the police. Jermaine didn’t take no for an answer and took matters into his own hands.
- Despite cracking his hip on a set of stairs earlier that day, the 35-year-old roofer and contractor grabbed a pair of wirecutters and started climbing to the 15th-floor where his mother resided. “All for my mom’s safety, period,” he told the TV station. “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.”
- Jermaine thought he would be arrested as soon as he got down after being told by a police officer that if he didn’t leave, he’d go to jail. “He actually did cut me a break,” Jermaine said. “He understood the circumstances. He knew—when your adrenaline is pumping and your mom is up there, you thinking she’s dying—you’d do anything you can.”
Officials determined that the fire was caused by a trash compactor. The building was evacuated and all residents were accounted for. However, four residents and three firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion.
