Metro Rescue Victim To Become Firefighter

Early one morning in June 2014, the Oklahoma City Fire Department (OKCFD) was called to an apartment fire near NW 122nd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Oklahoma City.

“It was huge, I mean it was basically like a bonfire,” said Corporal Brent Cates, OKCFD.

Crews put up ladders to get to a victim, who was trapped on the second floor.

“I climbed up first and got in through the window,” said Corporal Andrew Bertolasio, OKCFD.

Related Story: Two Injured In NW OKC Apartment Fire

The victim passed out and firefighters carried him out the window, just before his room went up in flames.

Nelson Clements woke up three days later in the ICU and nurses told him what had happened.

“I wouldn’t have believe them if I wasn’t laying in the hospital, because I don’t remember a second of it,” Clements told News 9.

And he stayed in the hospital for more than a week.

Fast forward to February 2018, and Station 15 got a visitor.

“I have a guy that shows up to my station, don’t recognize him, but he’s here for a ride-a-long for his fire degree,” said Major Kent Carter. “He was here probably 15 minutes before he fessed up and told me who he was.”

It was Clements, now continuing his education to become a firefighter at OSU-OKC. He was reunited with the men who saved his life.

“That’s not all they saved,” he said. “They saved my family the pain of losing me. They saved my little sister’s big brother. They saved me the time with my family that I would’ve never got.”

Nelson himself is on the path to helping others with a real driving force behind him.

“It didn’t scare me away from it,” Clements said. “It just made me want to do it even more.”

The firefighters at Station 15 said it was amazing to see Nelson again and they're so happy he'll become a firefighter.