Pulse-Pounding Rescue Caught on Tape as Firefighters Catch Baby Tossed From Burning Building

Fire captain Scott Stroup twisted his knee while making the grab.

It was heart-stopping drama as a Georgia toddler was tossed from a burning building and into the arms of a waiting firefighter. 

It happened in Decatur on Jan. 3 as firefighters scrambled to save a family of eight children trapped in a burning apartment building.

The toddler was tossed off a rescue ladder by her dad and was upside-down when caught by Capt. Scott Stroup, who twisted his knee during the incredible rescue. 

However, Stroup wasn’t the only firefighter making heroic grabs that day. 

Fire Captain Jackie Peckrul caught a 4-week old boy who was tossed from the balcony. She spoke to Inside Edition about the incident.

“The original plan was to get up on the balcony with them to assist them on the ladder and have somebody else bring them down. I got about halfway up and I look up and somebody was dropping a baby to me,” she recalled. 

The hair-raising rescue was captured on a firefighter's helmet cam, and thanks to the quick-thinking rescuers, no one was seriously injured.

Peckrul, a mom of triplets, says she “can’t imagine anything happening to one of my children.”

“I never ever want to see a mother or a father lose their children so, you want to protect them,” she added. 

About a dozen people were injured as a result of the fire, related mostly to smoke inhalation. 

Investigators still don't know the cause of the blaze which began at 5 a.m. 

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