Imagine yourself driving to work in the morning and seeing a small plane buzzing around a 7 story glass facade building. As you continue to glance at the plane, wondering what the heck it’s doing, you see it crash through that glass wall. What do you do?

Robin DeHaven, on his way to install glass at a building construction site, saw the situation pictured above and decided to help. He drove right to the firey building, got his ladder off his truck and extended it to the second floor, where people had their heads out the window to avoid the smoke.

He tried to instruct the people how to secure the ladder so they could safely climb down, but they were unable. So he climbed up the unsecured ladder (which slipped a bit as he was ascending) and crawled through the broken window and into the burning building.

With the aid of another man, he broke another window so they could tie off the ladder and have people climb out the window and down. In fact, he climbed down with each of the five people to give them support in case they slipped. They were all successfully rescued and not injured.

De Haven, who has a 3 year old son and served 6 years as a combat engineer for the US Army, acted with great character and courage. He also had the skills and knowledge to act appropriately in the situation.

If you find yourself in a catastrophe, how will you respond? To be effective, one needs courage and knowledge. Many of the topics I cover in ConstructionKnowledge.net will help you gain and expand your basic knowledge of how the physical world works. As for the courage, you’re on your own.