“I was thinking as a dad, not as an employee at that point,” he said. The two men jumped into action with an immediate but unspoken rescue plan. “We looked at each other and just knew exactly what we had to do. He took one part, I took one part, and we just made our way up,” Rasooli said. "I just started on the first floor, I started banging on every single door as hard as I can." Some people were still asleep and unaware of the danger. “I had to get to the ground several times because of the amount of smoke, and when the smoke would pass, I’d get back up and start banging on doors," Zapata said.