Head-first bailout in NJ captured on helmet cam

By FireRescue1 Staff

Trouble viewing the video? Download Flash player here

Related Feature: Close Calls on Camera: Head-First Ladder Bailouts 'The following videos show real life situations where firefighters were trapped by rapidly deteriorating conditions.' Related content sponsored by:

RANDOLPH, N.J. —A firefighter bailout from a second floor window during a house fire in New Jersey last month was captured on helmet cam.

The footage released this week shows the unnamed firefighter calling out for a ladder when conditions worsened during a search for a missing resident.

The helmet cam video was shot by a firefighter from the Dover Fire Department, whose Rapid Intervention Team can be seen grabbing the nearest extension ladder to assist, according to FireVideo.net.

As the incident unfolds, the firefighter falls from the window to the ground but he was not seriously hurt.

Close Calls on Camera columnist Jason Poremba said, "It just proves and reinforces the need to train in and understand how to deal with these bailouts. In addition, firefighter close calls are most often a result of a series of incidents as opposed to one traumatic event.

"This story is more about what series of events brought the firefighter to the point of emergency escape. Fire officers around the country should take from this video the need to train and educate fellow firefighters in how to visualize the warning signs, and secondly how to prepare their firefighters for emergency escape in the event of a rapidly decreasing fire environment.

"We need to continually assess the scene and adapt accordingly. Having a keen sense of your evolving situation and how to respond to it can decrease your odds of having to resort to firefighter bailouts, and other mayday related escape techniques. "

An elderly resident, Norma Miller, died in the house fire January 27, but her two sons were able to escape unharmed.