The little girl and her mother were struggling to escape after a fire broke out at the Isles at East Millenia complex, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
Officers responded to the scene just before 4:15 am and found the mother and baby on a third-floor balcony with flames emanating from the apartment, the news release said.
Deputy Sheriff William Puzynski went up to the second-floor balcony, grabbed the baby from his mother and lowered it to other officers on the ground, the video shows.
“Just before climbing the building, Deputy Puzynski took off his heavy outer ballistic vest – to which the camera is attached – to make it easier for him to climb. It is an incredible twist of fate that the camera was able to capture that. which happened later, “the statement reads.
“Later, when Mom came and found me, she really hugged me, so it was gratifying,” she said. “It’s a different feeling. Some nights you come home and you don’t really know if you’ve made a difference, but in situations like this you feel it.”
The baby’s mother and grandmother were rescued using a ladder, the sheriff’s office said. No casualties were reported and no officers were injured in the fire, officials said.