Fousseynou Cissé is being regarded as a hero after putting his own life on the line in order to save four young children and two adults from a burning building. And shockingly, the incident was all caught on camera.
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Spectators watched in terror as a group of people in Paris waved outside of a small window for help on the sixth floor of an apartment building. The incident, which occurred on July 4, could’ve turned deadly, but that’s when Cissé stepped in.
“As I was leaving, [my neighbor] called me over and told me that there were people trapped upstairs,” the 39-year-old hero told France Info. Cissé had just escaped the burning building with his own wife and child, but he turned back and entered a neighboring apartment building to do everything he could to help.
This meant running to the sixth floor, hopping outside of a window and standing on a skimpy ledge to assist six people trying to come to safety. “It wasn’t calculated; it was instinct: ‘We’ve got to go.’ So I jumped in to help,” he continued.
The mothers of the four children all stuck inside soon began handing the minors– including a one-year-old baby– over to Cissé one by one as he created a bridge between the neighboring buildings. Then, he helped evacuate the mothers, saving a total of six people that fateful day.
It might not come as a shock to know that Cissé is a caretaker, according to PEOPLE. But the 39-year-old is not a citizen of France although he holds a residence permit. He hopes to one day become a citizen.
“If you’re not a French national, you won’t get hired,” he said. Cissé will, however, be awarded for his heroic actions by the Paris police. Chief Laurent Nunez said the medal he will receive is “in recognition of his courage and dedication,” according to ABC News.
Nunez continued, “This medal recognizes republican courage that commands admiration.” The 39-year-old is hopeful that his actions on July 4 “might loosen things up, and that things would settle down” so he could be hired by the Paris town hall.
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