Gwinnett County sailor saves strangers trapped inside burning apartment building

NORFOLK, Vir. - A Navy sailor from Gwinnett County is being praised for saving two strangers from a burning apartment building in Virginia.

The two-alarm fire broke out at an apartment complex in Norfolk, Virginia on Tuesday afternoon and quickly spread throughout the building.

Electronics Technician (Nuclear) 1st Class Gabriel Journey happened to be driving by when he heard a woman screaming.

"The fire started in the bottom and had spread, so they were trapped," Journey told WAVY .

He jumped out of his car and ran to help.

"There was a group of about four other gentlemen that were there. I had them lift me up, and I climbed up the side of the building and helped get her out. It's what I trained [for] at work on a daily basis, so the number one priority was just getting as many people out as quickly as possible," Journey said.

Video taken at the scene showed Journey standing on the ledge outside a window and lowering a woman and her son into the crowd.

"My thought processes were, someone needed help, and someone needed to take initiative. There were a lot of people there, but everyone was scared and it was very chaotic. I felt like I had the ability to do something. I had the ability to step in, so I did," Journey told the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. "It wasn't until after everything calmed down that I realized how close the fire was and how bad the situation could have been."

He said he was thankful that he was in the right place at the right time and could help.

WAVY reports that two people were injured and more than 30 people were displaced by the fire, which officials believe was caused by "unattended cooking."