There are people out there who react instinctively to dangerous situations with exactly what is needed to save lives.

Phillip Blanks, a former football player and US Marine, who now works as a security guard, was in the right place at the right time when a building caught fire in Phoenix.

Blanks (below), who was visiting a friend, ran out to help when he heard a woman screaming.

According to The Washington Post, he looked up and saw her on a third-floor balcony with a child.

“People started yelling for the lady to throw her kids down,” said Blanks.

Image: Phillip Blanks

The mother dropped her son over the railing. As Blanks saw the small child falling, he dove forward, arms out.

“I immediately got tunnel vision of the baby and somehow managed to catch him,” Blanks said.

ABC7 interviewed Blanks after the fact. You can see the footage of his heroic catch at the start of the video, and extended footage at the 27-second mark:

Sadly, the mother, identified as Rachel Long, who went back inside the building where her eight-year-old daughter was still trapped, didn’t make it out of the blaze.

Another bystander ran inside the building and through the flames to save the 8-year-old.

D’Artagnan Alexander (below), 42, was on his way to a nearby plaza, where he works as a barber, when he heard screams and saw the flames.

Image: D’Artagnan Alexander/ Family Photo

“I have a 3-year-old and a 9-year-old, so when I heard there were kids in there, that really hit my heart,” said Alexander, who immediately parked his car and ran toward the blaze.

Without hesitating, he entered the building and made his way to the third floor.

“I heard someone scream for help and I found the girl on the floor and carried her outside,” said Alexander, who managed to escape the building mostly unscathed, aside from a few minor burns.

Image: Maranda Carruth

“Everything happened so fast,” he said. “I didn’t have time to think, my body just kicked into action and I went in.”

Alexander and Blanks have been in contact with the children’s father, Corey Long (above), and have offered to help him any way they can.

[source:washingtonpost]