Watch: Cobb County Fire rescues man 'overcome by the smoke' in raging house fire
MARIETTA, Ga. - Cobb County firefighters pulled a man out of a burning home Thursday and caught the heroic rescue on body-worn cameras.
They put together a video showing how their crews rescued the man from a home on Horseshoe Bend Road in Marietta.
Flames could be seen raging out of a bedroom window when they arrived.
"The fire in the bedroom was fully developed. It had vented out of that front window," said Lt. Steve Bennett with Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services.
(Credit: Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services)
"Neighbors were telling us that, ‘Hey, we saw somebody banging on that window, and then they disappeared,’" he said.
In the video, the first crew who arrived at the scene could be seen already up on a ladder trying to get the victim out of the back window where he was originally spotted. That's when the new team ran to the back of the home to assist them.
At the same time, a third group of firefighters rushed to the front of the home to put out the blaze.
(Credit: Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services)
The video shows a thick wall of smoke they encountered inside.
"It is pitch black from the smoke. And you're searching, you're looking. You can see nothing," Bennett said.
But before long, they found the man passed out on the bathroom floor.
"When the victim was trying to break out the window and escape, he was overcome by the smoke and the toxic gases, and it rendered him unconscious," Bennett said.
(Credit: Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services)
Shortly thereafter, firefighters passed him out the window to firefighters waiting on a ladder, who then carried him down to safety.
He was transported to the hospital.
Bennett told FOX 5 at last check, the man was alert and talking during recovery.
He said that's exactly what firefighters train for.
"This is the kind of thing that happens when you have excellent training, tons of experience and dedication to the job. Our crews did outstanding. This could not have gone any better," he said.
Bennett also said the man knew to close the door to the bathroom he was in, which likely prevented him from even more serious injuries.
"A very smart thing he did was he closed the bathroom door behind him. The outside of the bathroom door was charred, it was blackened, it had sustained fire damage. That fire would have gone into the bathroom and made this a lot more serious," Bennett said.