A video shows a firefighter falling out of a burning home while evacuating.
WJAR reported that 28-year veteran Lt. Michael Hillier fell head-first out of a second-story window while trying to escape the flames. “He fell evacuating the building,” Battalion Chief Steven Houle said. “He was coming down the ladder. He lost his grip and his footing on the ladder from the second-floor window and fell to the pavement.”
Lt. Hillier stayed on scene until the blaze was extinguished and then went to the hospital after being urged to go by his colleagues.
“That’s the job that we do. They were very unselfish people, entering that building with the amount of heat and fire in that building, knowing occupants were in there,” Chief Houle said.