City of Chattanooga/Reuters Undated photo of Chattanooga Fire Lieutenant Vernon Lane, released on August. 14, 2015.
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Lt. Lane said he just leaped in the direction of the baby and caught him in his arms.
The blaze at Hidden Creek Apartments was reported at about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. Photo of Vernon Lane from the Chattanooga Fire Department’s Facebook page.
An off-duty Chattanooga firefighter who managed to catch a baby thrown from the third-floor window of a burning building said on Friday he was in the right place in the right time.
An off-duty Chattanooga firefighter captured a baby after it was dropped from the third floor by the mother, according to Bruce Garner, fire department spokesman. Officials say more than a dozen residents were displaced by the fire, which caused extensive damage and destroyed multiple units. He said he grabbed a few things from his apartment and got out. Moments later, he also broke the fall for the child’s mother.
He fell to the ground in catching it. It took 50 firefighters to extinguish the flames, and Lane lost most of his possessions. The mother and baby only suffered minor injuries and no one else in the apartment complex was hurt.
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“When you’re responding to a fire, you try to use your knowledge, your skill set, what you’ve been taught to do”.
