CLINTON HILL, Brooklyn (PIX11) — It was a detour that Uber driver Fritz Sam didn’t hesitate to make.
“We looked and I saw fire coming out of the second-floor apartment. It looked pretty serious because the flames were already shooting out of the window,” Sam said.
Sam was in the process of taking a rider to LaGuardia Airport Wednesday morning when they spotted a Brooklyn brownstone on fire.
“I pulled over quickly, ran out the car,” Sam said. “Together we just started shouting, ‘Is anyone inside?’ Screaming at the top of our lungs, ‘Come out, come out, there’s a fire.’ I think I just made a decision at that moment to just go inside,” Sam said.
Fritz ran into the burning building and saved two people who were inside.
“I said, ‘Come on. We gotta go,’” Sam said. “I held his arm because he was a little wobbly and we just walked to the front door. The officer was there. The first firefighter was coming through the door with a hose. So the professionals are here. I’m gonna get out.”
Without skipping a beat, Sam still managed to get his passenger to LaGuardia Airport. “It was surreal, but we got to the airport on time. She made her flight,” Sam said.
Sam’s heroic feat caught the attention of Uber’s CEO, who called to thank him. Fritz said he was just trying to help out.
“Whoever is watching the news right now. It’s in you. I’m telling you, it’s in you. I didn’t do anything special. If your family was in a burning building, you wouldn’t hesitate. All I did was say, ‘Wait a minute, that may not be my family, but that’s somebody’s family,’” Sam said.
