it was like an angel. barr tells giagos to grab on to him. when he jumped on to me, he felt very weak and wasn t holding on to me too tight. so i grabbed him with my arms and legs. i didn t want to lose him. with barr holding tight to giagos, the pair is lowered to the floor below. where they spin and wait. there was so much going on in the building that no one realized i was out there. so that s when i hit the windows to alert them i was outside. and finally somebody noticed i was out there and that s when everybody came together and pulled me in. with giagos safely inside the building, barr turns to acknowledge the cheering crowds below. they didn t know who the victim was. they didn t know who i was. they realized somebody just saved somebody s life. they appreciated that.
the man is now standing on the window ledge of the 12th floor, looking like he s ready to jump to escape the growing heat and smoke. people will not burn to death. if they can jump, they ll jump. it s that painful and it s like you re drowning in smoke. barr is not yet anchored to anyone or anything. but he kicks his legs over the edge almost 200 feet above the ground to reassure the man in the window. barr is already hanging over the roof without having a rope attached to anything, letting him know not to jump, we were on our way. quickly shay attaches the other end of barr s rope to his own harness. i would be the anchor and i could grab something or somebody could grab me. this isn t normal procedure. typically firefighters will find a secure, stationary place to attach the rope. but with the fire spreading rapidly, they need to move fast. time was running out. i m not going to let the guy jump.
time was running out. i m not going to let the guy jump. guy s not jumping while i m working. period. lieutenant brown assures barr the firefighters on the roof have his back. he just said, we re not going to drop you. we won t let you go. while other firefighters hold him down, shay lets out rope and begins slowly lowering barr. within seconds, barr is face to face with the trapped man. he was very exhausted and he was surprised to see me. standing in the smoke-filled window with the fire closing in, music producer jose giagos had been close to giving up in the seconds before barr appeared. i thought i was going to die. suddenly i hear a very loud voice. don t jump. don t jump. i m here. and kind of caught my attention. and then, again, look up, look up. i open my eyes and i look up and i saw the boots and somebody coming down. it was like an angel. barr tells giagos to grab on to him. when he jumped on to me, he felt very weak and wasn t holding on to me too tight.
so i grabbed him with my arms and legs. i didn t want to lose him. with barr holding tight to giagos, the pair is lowered to the floor below. where they spin and wait. there was so much going on in the building that no one realized i was out there. so that s when i hit the windows to alert them that i was outside. and finally somebody noticed i was out there and that s when everybody came together and pulled me in. with giagos safely inside the building, barr turns to acknowledge the cheering crowds below. they didn t know who the victim was. they didn t know who i was. they realized somebody just
further out on the ledge. i could hear the firemen saying stay calm, we re on our way up. we re on our way up. just stay there. by the time we got to the roof, i realized no one could get through the interior because there was such a large amount of fire. so they knew the only recourse was to get this guy from the roof. the firefighters from rescue one begin to prepare to lower barr by rope to grab the man. part of my equipment was the roof rope. so i brought it up, i would use it. it had to be by rope because the ladders wouldn t reach him. lieutenant patrick patty brown is in charge of the risky operation. he knows if the rope frays or gets burned, it could snap and anyone hanging over the edge could plummet to his death. as brown leans over the edge to assure the trapped man that help is on the way, barr creates a harness with the rescue rope and climbs onto the parapet wall. the man is now standing on the window ledge of the 12th floor, looking like he s ready to jump t