FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue workers went beyond the call of duty to help a woman with special needs get to her 31st-floor apartment.
Floodwaters recently shut down her building’s elevator, and that’s when the first responders stepped in to help.
The three firefighters will say they were just doing their jobs, but their job was not easy.
In a typical commercial building, each floor is about 10-to-15-feet high. The firefighters went up 13 floors to get the woman where she needed to go, and they did it carrying her on their back, with her wheelchair and her belongings.
“I was literally stuck on floor 31,” said Haleigh Rosa.
With the dilemma came a very important decision.
“To either bring her down 20-plus stories to the next crossway to the other tower, or go up 13 and get across to a working elevator bank so she can get out of the building,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire Battalion Chief Garrett Pingol.
Up they went and back down they came, “with a hundred pounds on their back,” Rosa said with a laugh.
Rosa said eight years ago, a car crash left her paralyzed from the waist down.
Sunday night, a pipe burst, knocking out the elevators on her side of the building.
That’s when her knights in shining bunker gear answered the call.
“The fact that they had the know-how, the problem-solving and the desire to go above and beyond, like they do every day, we’re proud of that,” said Pingol.
Rosa shared the ordeal on TikTok, a 30-second thank you of sorts, and it’s been viewed more than 5 million times.
“We appreciate her for sharing the moment,” said Pingol.