@c5news: The ultimate leap of faith. Terrifying footage shows a woman escaping a burning building by climbing out an eleventh floor window. When the fire brigade arrived at the incident in Berlin, the turntable ladder only reached up to the ninth floor. In the video, which has gone viral on social media, the woman can be seen bravely dangling herself from the windowsill - hesitating before making the leap. As flames shot out the apartment window, she made the two-storey drop and landed safely in the basket of the ladder next to a firefighter. 116 emergency personnel were deployed to the incident in Friedrichshain on 14 August, according to the Berlin fire brigade. After around five hours, the scene of the fire at the tower block was handed over to the police to investigate the cause. At least 13 people were reportedly injured in the inferno, mostly from smoke inhalation, while five were taken to hospital. Hundreds of residents were evacuated by firefighters as smoke had spread throughout the whole building. A fire service spokesperson told regional broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (RBB), “It really was touch and go”, pointing out that the Berlin fire brigade's turntable ladder only reached up to about the ninth floor of the 21-storey building. Reflecting on the dramatic operation, they said: "That's not something you need to experience every day”.

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Tuesday 18 August 2026 13:13:15 GMT