CHARLOTTE, NC — A Charlotte family is counting their blessings and saying thanks to the first responders who saved their lives.
Today that family met with the rescuers who pulled them out of a burning house, and listened to an emotional 911 call for the first time.
“We were pretty much trapped, and the smoke was thick. I could barely see my hand in front of my face,” says Tony Jackson.
Jackson, his wife and two of their five children were trapped in their house in the University City neighborhood. They were upstairs. The fire was below.
“I went downstairs and saw a big light,” says 9-year-old Tony Jackson, Jr. “And then that’s when we went into the bathroom.”
The four family members were trying to breathe through a small window and clinging to a cell phone while firefighters rushed to the scene. When the Charlotte Fire Department arrived, the rescue began.
“As I reached out, someone grabbed my hand and I passed my son to the first hand that I felt,” says Tony Jackson.
The word “heroes” certainly gets thrown around a lot, but it’s appropriate when it comes to the first responders with the Charlotte Fire Department.
The Jacksons got to meet with the heroes, the men and women, who saved their lives.
It was an emotional reunion. The family thanked the crews from Station 35 and Ladder 27, and the calm voice on the other end of the 911 call.
“This could be it,” says Jackson. “So I’m just extremely grateful that they were there and able to help my family.”
“I know there’s kids. I’ve got kids,” says Engine 35 Firefighter Mike LaPiana. “The priority is to get them out. And we just go like bulls until we get what we got to get done.”
“We don’t get a lot of closure on a lot of 911 calls we get,” says CFD 911 Telecommunicator Wes Autry. “And just to meet these people and see what they came through, it’s just amazing.”
The Jacksons are staying in a hotel while they try to find a new home. Tony Jackson says the family lost almost everything.
