Some really must see video: The Fire Critic finds a ladder rescue from Poland that you just don't want to miss.

I give my friend Rhett Fleitz a lot of grief. Basically because he is my friend and because he is such an easy target. Despite all of his faults, and he has many, Rhett is probably the hardest working man in the fire service blog business. He’s been doing it longer than most and has multiple blogs going like The Fire Critic and VAFireNews.com along with his job as a lieutenant in the Roanoke Fire Department. Rhett also partners with John Mitchell of Fire Daily (clearly the brains of the operation) to do Firefighter Netcast (tonight’s guest The Fire PIO Jeff Bressler).

Whether it is accurate or not, I am giving Rhett credit for uncovering this video from a June 9 fire in Poland. The Fire Critic is the first place I saw it. Normally I would just link to Rhett’s site, but this video is so good I am ripping it off to make sure you see it (but make sure you go to The Fire Critic and read Rhett’s comments about the video and while there leave a comment telling him how much better STATter911.com is).

Now to this very serious video. A couple is trapped in a burning third floor apartment. They climb out and both hang for quite a while, side-by-side, from a window that appears to face a courtyard. It is amazing they were able to hold on for so long. Once the ladder is raised the man can’t quite wait for the firefighter to get to him. The man and the firefighter take a hard fall as the man lets go of the sill.

Then it’s the woman’s turn and a similar thing happens. Make sure you watch this one all the way to the end.