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WEST VALLEY CITY — Dramatic body camera video released from West Valley City Police Department shows officers saving a man from his second-story apartment during a major fire at his apartment complex.
The video even shows an officer using his patrol car to break through a fence so that it can be used for the man to jump down onto.
The fire broke out at about 2:30 a.m. Monday at the Decker Lake Apartment complex, at about 2200 West and 3100 South.
#fire_pic
Officer Joshua Cook just happened to be parked across the street and was finishing a report when he said he saw smoke and flames coming from the apartment complex.
He then started running door to door, sounding the alarm for people to get out.
“I did what needed to be done. I didn’t really concern for my safety. It was more everybody else,” Cook said during a press conference Monday afternoon.
Officer Oscar Deleon, who has been on the force for three years, said it took some convincing to get the man to jump from the second-story apartment building.
“Get your leg out! You’ve got to jump! Come on, jump! I’ve got you,” is what could be heard in the body camera video while officers were trying to get the man to jump.
"We just told him, 'You have to jump, you have to jump. There is no way out, just that window,'" Deleon said.
More Dramatic Body cam video out of @WVCPD ....officers helping to rescue people from burning apartment fire. one lady telling me she may not be alive if it wasn't for them. @KSL5TVpic.twitter.com/rfO9fhqymr
— Dan Rascon (@TVDanRascon) April 1, 2019
#vid_tweet
Anna Galdiz said if it wasn’t for someone banging on her door to wake her up, she doesn’t know if she would be alive today.
“I say thank you for the people, for the fireman and for the police man," said Galdiz. “[They] save my life.”
She along with other residents told KSL that they heard no alarms.
“No alarm, no nothing. I heard nothing,” said Galdiz.
Investigators tell KSL that the building was equipped with working smoke alarms that were property functioning.
Update: fast moving apt fire in @WVCUT leaves 50 people homeless ..officers being credited for saving lives... one of them even drove his car through the fence to get people off 2nd floor @WVCPDpic.twitter.com/Vw9NDGXgTl
— Dan Rascon (@TVDanRascon) April 1, 2019
Right now, the cause of the fire is believed to be electrical, but the investigation continues.
Eight units caught fire, completely destroying five of them. About 50 people were left homeless.
The two officers say they don’t consider themselves heroes.
“That’s what we do in this job. That’s what we signed up for: to save and to protect,” said Deleon.
