THIS is the dramatic moment a hero caretaker rescues four babies from a blazing sixth-floor flat in Paris.
Incredible footage shows Fousseynou Cissé braving thick smoke and dizzying heights as he balances on the outer ledge of a burning apartment block, signalling urgently to those trapped inside.
Fousseynou Cissé balanced precariously on a ledge as he saved four babies from a burning flat in Paris
He coaxed one-and-a-half-year-old and five-month-old 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren across the gap
CThe caretaker also managed to save two adults from the blazing flat
Through the blackened window, the 39-year-old can be seen coaxing desperate parents to hand over their 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren, one by one.
First, he carefully takes hold of a five-month-old 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦, then passes the infant across to a man perched in a neighbouring building.
Moments later, he repeats the heroic act with a one-year-old 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥.
But the caretaker, who works at a local school, didn’t stop there.
He went on to rescue two more 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren and two adults from the inferno engulfing the building in northern Paris on Friday.
“I didn’t ask myself the question. Their lives were in danger. I didn’t think twice,” he told Le Parisien.
He revealed he had been lying on his sofa when he smelled smoke and spotted a mother holding her 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 out of a window.
He told his wife to evacuate with their two-year-old, then ran straight into the chaos to help his neighbours.
“Given the amount of smoke, they and their 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren could have suffocated,” Cissé said.
“Their last hope was to throw themselves out the window otherwise…”
He credited his success to his long arm span – more than four feet – and his 6’2” height, which allowed him to bridge the gap between the apartments.
He kept his legs astride the two buildings to stay anchored while passing the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren to safety.
Cissé told BFMTV: “When I saw my neighbors stuck and shocked, I didn’t hesitate to jump out the window and find a place to put my feet.
“I stood firm, spreading my feet and letting the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren through.”
The fire had broken out on the second floor, but the thick, acrid smoke quickly rose to the top floor.
Naomi, 31, was trapped with her two sons, aged nine and 11, and a neighbour’s 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren — the five-month-old and one-and-a-half-year-old — after the stairwell became impassable.
“We couldn’t see anything anymore,” she said. “We were caught in the smoke… I yelled at them to come back up.”
Cissé climbed out through a neighbour’s skylight, which he said was “4–5 metres” from the flat where the mothers and 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren were sheltering.
“It was mainly the babies who pushed me to act (…) It’s a question of survival,” he told BFMTV.
“When you think, you don’t calculate the risks. It was afterward, when I watched the images again, that I understood that I could die and fall from the sixth floor.”
Ten people were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation, local media reported.
Cissé, dubbed “the hero of the 18th arrondissement,” will now be officially decorated for his act of bravery, the French Interior Ministry confirmed.
The selfless rescue has sparked an outpouring of praise.
Senator Rémi Féraud posted on X: “Impressive courage that saved lives. Fousseynou Cissé is a hero who deserves our admiration and the recognition of Paris.”
French MEP Matthieu Valet added: “Facing death, armed only with his bravery, he saved Naomie, her two 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren, a neighbour’s five-month-old 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦, and her other one-and-a-half-year-old 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥. Without a weapon. Without a helmet. Just his courage.”
Cissé, 39, didn’t think twice about risking his life to save the babies