Injured Florida man uses cast on his arm to break a window & save elderly neighbor from fire

A 93-year-old woman escapes death, thanks to her injured neighbor who stepped in to save her from her burning home. 

Altavious Powell was recovering from an arm injury in his home in Miami Gardens, Florida when he was prompted to action to save his neighbor’s life. 

HERO! South Florida man uses cast on his arm to get into a house and save neighbor from fire https://t.co/MxBDp1d38D 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/Qq1nABnqS9

— WPTV (@WPTV) December 12, 2018

Powell, who grew up in the eyes of his 93-year-old neighbor, Maria Cabral was first alerted to danger when he smelled smoke from inside his home. After realizing the smell was coming from a fire in Cabral’s home, he rushed to her house to find a way to help her.  

His first thought was to break a window to get in so he used his cast and a plastic chair to smash it. Succeeding, he found Cabral in the hallway of her bathroom, alone but conscious enough to thank him.  With only one arm functioning, Powell grabbed Cabral and brought her to safety. He proceeded to put out the fire using a water hose. 

A lucky break: This man used a cast on his arm to help smash a window on his elderly neighbor's burning home before pulling her to safety https://t.co/bj3dUSHLzb pic.twitter.com/5QGBYXTVGG

— CNN (@CNN) December 12, 2018

Firefighters who responded to the scene were grateful to Powell for managing to put out “the main body of the fire.” They arrived with only smoke coming out of the one-story home but no flames.  

This man with a broken arm used his cast to break the window of the home of his 92-year-old neighbor during a fire. He climbed inside the burning house and saved her before she was rushed to the hospital for smoke inhalation. He was also treated on the scene. @wsvn @Exclusive pic.twitter.com/3i5vHNDyvX

— Sheldon Fox-7 News (@fox_sheldon) December 11, 2018

Cabral, who was treated for smoke inhalation at the hospital will be okay. Meanwhile, Powell required no treatment. Maybe just a cast replacement. 

EVERYDAY HEROES

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Powell’s courage amidst danger and while nursing an injury makes him an everyday hero in the eyes of many. The world could use more of him. Though, in the past, many have proven to be like him. There’s the man who stepped in to catch a baby who was tossed by the mother from a 3-story building to escape a fire. There’s also the man who saved a boy from drowning but lost his life doing it. There’s even a third grader who came to her classmate’s rescue when she realized she was choking. 

This is the young man who caught a baby as it dropped three stories up from a burning apartment, Byron Campbell made the catch of his life! This man is a hero!!! pic.twitter.com/G8nwyeq6zM

— Hannah VanHuss Davis (@hannahdinhd) November 21, 2018

Stories like these are truly inspiring and make for a better world. Here’s hoping more and more people would turn out to be heroes at one point in their lives.