‘I need answers’: Firefighters carry paralyzed woman up 13 flights of stairs after apartment building floods
A team of firefighters was praised for carrying a paralyzed woman up 13 flights of stairs after apartment floods left her stranded on the 31st floor.
The woman in the video, Haleigh Rosa, captured the heartwarming rescue in a viral video on TikTok. By Monday, the clip had been viewed more than 14 million times.
@halrosa Thank you v much FTL Fire Dept I luv you!!!! #fire #paralyzed #injury #firedepartment ♬ original sound - Haleigh, like Berry
“POV: You’re paralyzed and stuck on Floor 31 so the fire department rescues you,” she wrote on the video. The Daily Dot reached out to Rosa via TikTok comment.
The TikTok shows Rosa being carried on the back of one of the firefighters. There are two other firefighters behind them who are carrying her wheelchair and bags.
“Are we there yet?” one of the firemen jokes. “This is why we train,” another says.
At one point, Rosa asks the fireman who’s carrying her if she’s choking him. As he wheezes, he replies, “A little bit.”
“Wee,” she says as they make it to the last flight of stairs.
Since the rescue was so special, people in the comments likened it to a meet-cute moment you’d see in the movies.
“I could see hallmark or Netflix making a movie out of this,” one user wrote. “But its Christmas and the firefighter is actually a prince. Also add random vineyard.”
“Why is this romantic to me LMAO,” a third shared. Another wrote that she would instantly catch feelings for her rescuer. “I'd fall in love with guy carrying me lol,” she commented.
A fourth even recognized her fiancé as one of the firefighters. “Idk how my fiancé just showed up on my fyp but I’m gonna go cry now cause this is so wholesome,” she wrote with crying emojis.
Commenters also mentioned BookTok, which is a community on TikTok that focuses on books. “Okay but did they all fall in love you by floor 31? I need booktok to finish this story,” a woman wrote.
“Booktok? I know you're here,” another shared.
Others expressed wanting to get their own hands on a sexy firefighter. “How do reserve a ride on a firefighter?” this person wrote. “And everybody tells me not to go for the firefighters, but I want one,” another added.
Many got a kick out of the firefighter’s response when Rosa asked if she was choking him. "’Am I choking you’ ‘a little bit’ lmao,” this woman wrote. “It’s the breathless ‘a little bit,’” seconded another.
But people also had questions about the rescue, like why the firefighters carried Rosa up 13 flights of stairs instead of bringing her down to the main floor.
“Wait I need answers on how you got stuck on floor 31 but they’re going up the stairs? I’m confused,” wrote @kelseycappa.
The mystery behind this was answered when WSVN interviewed Fort Lauderdale Fire Captain Michael Bloomberg.
"She was on floor 31 but the only working elevators only took us to floor 44," said Bloomberg. "We had a choice of going up 13 floors or going down 21 [floors] so we decided to go up 13 floors."
The firefighters shared that it was a team effort. Firefighters Johnny Jones and Chance Davis took turns carrying Rosa up the stairs. One carried Rosa, another carried her wheelchair, and a third carried her bags.
"We just decided to go up 13 flights," said Davis. "Me and Johnny each did half. The captain was able to carry Louis Vuitton bags and we got her up."
Rosa, who was paralyzed from the waist down eight years ago in a car crash, recently reunited with the firefighters who rescued her. According to WPLG, she swung by the fire station and brought baked goods and lunch for the crew.
She also expressed her sincerest gratitude to the first responders. “I couldn’t have asked for a better trio to show up and save the day,” she said.
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