Missouri Firefighters Talk About Falling Through Floor One of the firefighters who fell through a floor while battling a house fire early Tuesday morning was on his last day on the job, and the other firefighter was on his first, KMBC's Natalie Moultrie reported.
"As I was falling, I remember saying, 'I can't believe I'm going to die on my last shift on the truck," Capt. Joe Lay said.
"I couldn't believe it -- my first day on the job, and I'm falling through the floor of a residential house. It was just something else," firefighter Kyle Stevens said.
The two men can smile about it now, but early Tuesday morning on East Lexington Avenue, they thought they were facing death. Lay and Stevens fell through the kitchen floor, eight feet down to the fiery basement.
"It was really, really scary. I can't put it in words -- the floor started to go. I can't describe the feeling, going into basement where fire had been. It was just very, very scary," Stevens said.
"As I hit the floor, I realized I was still alive, but then we were surrounded by fire. At that point, it really was scary," Lay said.
Other firefighters at the scene thought their captain and the new recruit were dead.
"As much yelling as I heard, I thought they were being cooked alive -- and that's the worst feeling in the world," fire equipment operator Michael Cangelosi said.
Moultrie reported that despite the fear and chaos, the crew's training kicked in. Within minutes, they had pulled Lay and Stevens out of the fire through a tiny basement window.
"Never had anything like this happen before -- probably most intense three minutes of my life," Lay said.
"I'm just really happy Capt. Joe Lay ... was there with me, because if he hadn't been with me, I really don't know where I would've been or how I would've escaped," Stevens said.
"I just think it's a miracle that they're unscathed," Cangelosi said.
Neither firefighter was hurt in the fall. Lay is now a battalion chief and new recruit Stevens said he's ready to fight his next fire.
