Heartbreaking footage from a Facebook live stream from the scene of a devastating fire in North Carolina showed two men trapped in hell and pleading for help before they died.
Demonte Tyree Sherrill, 30, was one of two people who died in the massive Charlotte fire on Thursday.
Footage showed Sherrill making a desperate plea for help before being overtaken by the flames.
‘Yo. I’m in South Park right now at work. The building is on fire and I can’t get out. It’s getting harder and harder for them to see us,” Sherrill said calmly on camera.
“The building is on fire and I’m stuck inside. Me and my man,” he said, pointing to himself and his colleague.
Crews were able to save 15 workers from the huge fire that broke out in an apartment complex under construction. One of the rescued people was trapped by smoke from a high-rise crane.
Demonte Tyree Sherrill, 30, who died in a fire in Charlotte, North Carolina, made a desperate plea for help on Facebook Live before being engulfed in smoke
‘Yo. I’m in South Park right now at work. The building is on fire and I can’t get out. It’s getting harder and harder for them to see us,” Sherrill calmly says to the camera.
Charlotte firefighters shared footage from hell on their social media last week after the fire started at the construction site
Sherrill appeared to remain incredibly calm in the footage until he called for help.
‘HELP! HELP! HELP!’ he cried desperately.
‘Yo! This building is on fire. I’m at work. We’re in South Park,’ he repeated once more before the video suddenly cut out.
Sherrill could be heard screaming for help with her own family members witnessing her final harrowing moments on the Facebook Live stream as the entire floor of the building filled with smoke.
“I was hoping, but just from the (Facebook Live), and the way the room filled with smoke, I didn’t see any hope at that point,” her mother, Onita, said. WSOC.
She said she felt numb and in shock after the horrific ordeal.
Sherrill and one other person died in the blaze while crews rescued 15 people from the blaze
Firefighters were hampered by visibility due to the amount of smoke from the massive blaze
At one point, a trapped crane operator attempted to save the two men before being rescued from the high-rise structure
Flames could be seen coming out of the building from all sides as the fire took hold
Fire investigators confirmed the fire started accidentally when a trailer was spraying insulation material
Sherrill was only on his third day of work on the site as he installed windows in the newly constructed building.
‘He was a good man. A loving father. A caring person and he just wanted to be with his kids, his family,” she added.
Sherrill’s father also saw his son’s plight.
“I went to the scene and all the smoke…I mean, I couldn’t watch,” said Terry Campbell Channel 9.
“Then I got in touch with his boss and that’s when his boss let me know it was him,” Campbell said.
“We need time to grieve… We need time to figure it all out,” said Chrystina Stovall, Sherrill’s fiancée. Charlotte Observer. “I was on the phone with him when he was in that building, and he was burning and he was screaming for help.”
Firefighters attempted to reach the two men and heard their calls, but had to abandon their own rescue attempt.
“They were looking in an area with obviously limited visibility,” Charlotte Fire Department Chief Reginald Johnson said, according to WCNC.
The incident took place in a multi-storey building under construction after a spray-foam trailer on the ground floor suddenly burst into flames, according to the subsequent Charlotte Fire investigation.
Sherrill was only on his third day of work on the site as he installed windows in the newly constructed building.
A worker told local news they were told the fire was started by a generator
The building collapse was filmed and shared on social media
The building’s flames could be seen from a distance and even showed up on weather radar
More than 100 other workers escaped the flames as the building collapsed.
Reuben Holmes of Alabama was the other worker to die in the fire that broke out on the fourth floor of the building, which was still under construction.
The flames spread quickly due to the amount of exposed wood at the site.
At one point, a crane operator stuck in his cabin spotted the two workers stuck on a balcony and tried to save them by swinging a basket at them, but the fire was too intense and he couldn’t reach them.
“We put the crane over there on the basket and tried to get them into the basket so we could take them down, but that’s when the smoke started to go out and we didn’t. had no sight of them,” Alexa Escobar told the WSOC.
The crane operator was later rescued after spending nearly an hour above the flames. By then the other two men were dead.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help raise money for the father-of-four who has so far raised $10,000
Johnson told a news conference that firefighters at the scene were hampered by limited visibility as they tried to locate the workers.
“The men and women of the Charlotte Fire Department send our deepest condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Mr. Sherill and Mr. Holmes,” Charlotte Fire said in a statement Tuesday.
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles expressed his condolences to Sherrill’s family, describing him as a dedicated worker, loving father and family-oriented man. Sherrill’s children are 13, 12, 10 and 5 years old.
A GoFundMe was created to help raise money for fourm’s dad who raised $10,000.
