Roommates Rappel to Safety from Burning Building

You never know when a hobby will come in handy during an emergency situation.

For Matt Fischer, an avid rock climber, having a climbing rope lying around his apartment quite possibly saved his life and the life of his roommate, Adam Carpenter, when their four-story apartment building became engulfed in flames before dawn on Thursday morning. 

The fire broke out at about 5:00 a.m. Thursday in the apartment building, located at 926 Woodside Rd. in Redwood City. 

Click on the video above for Fischer and Carpenter's account of their escape. 

With the door to their third floor apartment blocked by smoke and fire, Fischer and Carpenter tied the rope to their third floor balcony and rappelled safely to the ground just as firefighters were arriving to rescue others in the 75-unit apartment building.  

"We saw the flames and smoke in the building so we wet towels in the sink, grabbed what we could and tied the rope to the balcony and climbed down," said Carpenter. He added that once they were on the ground, they thought they would be able to help others who were stranded on their balconies, but by then firefighters had arrived to take over rescue operations. 

"I woke up at about 5:30 to my neighbors yelling out in the parking lot about a fire. I woke my roommate up and we tried to bail out the front door but smoke bailed in just as we opened it, so we shut that. My climbing rope was on the floor, so we tied it off to the third floor metal balcony and me and my roommate rappelled down in our boxers and now I'm trying to get my snake back," said Fischer.

After they evacuated, Fischer came back to inquire about his pet snake that had to be left behind. A representative from the Peninsula Humane Society was at the scene to help locate the pets of those displaced from the fire. Fisher said he was optimistic that his snake would be safely returned. 

Once on the ground, Fischer and Carpenter were assisted by good samaritans near the building who loaned them clothing.

"Luckily I met a nice gentleman who gave me his coat who works for the transit system here, so that was cool," Carpenter said.

For more coverage on Thursday's fire, click here.
For information on the Red Cross Recovery Service Center, click here. 
For first hand accounts from fire victims, click here.