Firefighter/Paramedic Kyle Porter grabbed a 24-foot extension ladder and hurried to the west side of the building, looking for the trapped woman.

What followed was a ladder rescue so unusual that Fire Chief Matt Price said “Kyle did some pretty crazy stuff.”

It was a successful rescue. Porter brought the woman to safety unharmed.

On Wednesday, he received the Fire Department’s Award of Valor for the effort.

-Photo courtesy of the Fort Dodge Fire Department
Firefighter/Paramedic Kyle Porter helps a woman down a ladder after she was rescued from a third-floor apartment at 1107 Central Ave. on Nov. 17, 2024. Porter braced two ladders together to help the woman escape the fire. He received the Award of Valor for his actions.

Price said the award is presented to firefighters who put themselves at great risk while saving someone’s life.

The award was presented during a ceremony and retiree breakfast held at the firehouse, 1515 Central Ave.

The fire at 1107 Central Ave. was reported at 2:21 a.m. Nov. 17, 2024.

Porter spotted the woman at a third floor window.

“She was in peril,” Price said. “There was smoke coming out the window all around her.”

Porter extended the ladder to its full length. It wasn’t long enough to reach the woman.

He called to Fire Department Capt. Jeff Hill and asked him to bring a second ladder. Hill brought the ladder to him, and he placed the bottom of it on the ladder he was on. Then he extended it to the third floor window.

He steadied this combination of ladders by pressing it against the building. He continued talking to the woman while putting the two ladders together.

The woman was able to get out of the window and onto the upper ladder by herself. She climbed down to where Porter was holding the two ladders together. He helped her get onto the lower ladder and all the way to the ground.

‘It went fairly quick,” Porter said Wednesday.

His work at that fire was far from over, however.

He next helped fellow firefighters remove a woman who could not walk from the first floor.

Then he checked two more patients who walked over to the ambulance where he had taken the woman removed from the first floor.

A third patient, a woman with singed hair and soot in her nose and mouth, appeared at the ambulance. Porter assisted in treating her and then took her to UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center. She was eventually transferred to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

After handing the patient over to the emergency room staff, Porter returned to the scene and worked until firefighters returned to the station.

Six people were injured in the fire. Its cause was eventually traced to an unattended candle that ignited nearby materials.