By FireRescue1 Staff
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A toddler was reunited with the firefighter who saved him as his family was trying to escape their burning home.
According to 10 WBNS, on Aug. 23, 2018, Fire Investigator Mike DeFrancisco was investigating an arson case when he noticed smoke nearby and looked for the source. He found a family huddled outside the second story window of an apartment building trying to escape the smoke.
Homeowner Aleasha Mitchell was holding her 1-year-old son, Jahid, when she spotted DeFrancisco. Her older daughter, Zion, had already jumped, hurting her back in the fall.
DeFrancisco was able to catch Jahid just in time and the rescue was caught on camera.
“It leaves me speechless, like, I don’t even know the words to say. I’m just grateful,” Mitchell said to DeFrancisco. “It’s a blessing. And, thank you for following your instincts, thank you, because I don’t know why you came, I really don’t, I don’t know what brought you to my house, but whatever it was, I’m so happy, I’m so grateful, thank you, and thank you for catching him.”
For DeFrancisco, though, he says that his colleagues make similar rescues constantly.
“The guys on the street out there, in your fire departments, your communities, are doing this stuff every day and they’re putting it on the line every day to make sure you’re safe, or to save your loved ones, and it’s the same thing for the policemen,” DeFrancisco said. “It’s tough times for all of us right now, but these guys are out there, putting themselves out there and willing to sacrifice for the community, you know, to make sure people are safe. And that’s what our job’s all about.”