Medic scales burning Bnei Brak building to save elderly couple
Elhanan Mamo says he chose to make the climb after realizing that a crane wouldn’t be able to reach the pair; later discovers he had recently resuscitated same woman
A Magen David Adom medic scaled the side of a burning building in order to save an elderly couple in Bnei Brak this week.
Footage of Elhanan Mamo making like Spiderman has gone viral, leading to a series of TV interviews in which he recalls his heroics.
The Haredi medic said he had just finished praying early Sunday morning when he received a call to assist in treating victims at the site of a fire in the ultra-Orthodox city outside of Tel Aviv.
While he usually provides care to patients after they have been evacuated, the Sunday emergency required him to reach the couple while they were still in their apartment, pleading for help.
“I saw an elderly couple — very elderly — covered in soot, waving from their window and asking for help,” Mamo said in an interview broadcast on i24 News. “The first firefighting team that arrived told to me they couldn’t get a crane to them because the alley was too narrow. Whoever’s familiar with the city [knows] a crane doesn’t have an angle to open up there.”
Ladders also would not suffice, Mamo explained, because the couple was too high up and there were too many balconies in the way.
Mamo said he then began planning in his head how he could climb up to them. “It’s not something that should be done,” he told the news station. “I don’t recommend anyone do this, but I knew what I was doing.
חילוץ אמיץ על ידי חובש בכיר אלחנן מאמו מאירגון אחוד והצלה שחילץ זוג זקנים מביתם שבער באש אתמול בבני ברק. pic.twitter.com/CxIKBsJb12
— Tobi (@bir_tobi83413) August 26, 2024
Mamo managed to scale the building, treated the couple and helped them exit their apartment to an adjacent balcony rooftop where he provided them with oxygen.
“If they had breathed in a little more smoke, they would certainly not be alive anymore.”
Mamo said in the interview that the address was familiar to him. After saving the couple, he realized he had already saved the woman’s life last year after resuscitating her. She expressed her thanks at the time by donating medical equipment to MDA.
Speaking on Channel 14, Mamo was asked why he climbed the burning building despite not being a firefighter. “It has nothing to do with being a firefighter, I’m a lifesaver,” he responded.
When the Channel 14 panel compared Mamo to Spiderman, the ultra-Orthodox Mamo said, “I don’t know what Spiderman is, I know that that’s what was needed to be done at that moment.”
