A homeless man has been hailed a hero for saving a family and their pets from a burning apartment building.
Claudia Jimenez, a mom-of-two from Phoenix, Arizona, woke up on Thursday morning (May 18) to find flames destroying her apartment.
Unable to escape through the front door because it had been engulfed by the fire, Jimenez and her two young daughters were trapped inside.
As the fire took hold, all the mom could do was call for help. “I opened my window and I started yelling, ‘Please, someone help me, there’s a fire, I can’t get out through the front, I need someone to help me,'” Jimenez told CBS News.
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The man who came to the family’s rescue, Joe Hollins, was camped out near Jimenez’s apartment along with his wife. When they heard the mom’s desperate screams, Hollins ran to help even before the firefighters arrived.
“All I see is a lady pull open the window and she’s screaming, ‘Please help me, please help me,’” Hollins recalled.
He positioned himself underneath the window and told Jimenez to drop her two daughters to him.
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“He was right underneath and he was like, ‘Yes, throw your daughters out, I’m going to catch them, I’m going to get them,'” the mum shared about the moment help arrived in the most unexpected way.
Valerie, one, went out the window first and she was followed by her older sister Natalie, eight. The family’s two dogs were rescued by Hollins afterwards and he caught each one safely.
Next up was mom Jimenez, who was understandably nervous about putting her faith in the Hollins.
“She didn’t want to come at first. She was scared she was going to fall,” he told CBS News. “I was like, ‘I got you. Don’t worry.'”
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Jimenez jumped and just like Hollins promised, he caught her in his arms.
The firefighters arrived soon after to put the flames out. Unfortunately, the family, along with many other residents in their apartment building, lost their belongings in the fire. Thankfully, the family escaped the fire with their lives due to Hollins.
“I will forever be thankful to him, you know? Like I said, to me he was an angel.
“Because of him we’re here, we’re alive and my daughters are safe.”
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Members of the community are now raising money to support all those who survived the fire.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation.