A New York City firefighter planned a one-of-a-kind proposal for his unsuspecting girlfriend by rappelling down a building in a faux training drill to ask for her hand in marriage.
Dasia Moore, 28, and Jayson Ralph, 30, have been together five years, during which time Jayson advanced from being a FDNY EMT, through fire academy, and training as an official firefighter.
Jayson knows Dasia loves everything about firefighting, having been a fan of firefighter TV shows since before the couple even met.
Having decided he wanted to ask Dasia to marry him, Jayson, from Queens, decided to tie in her love of firefighting – so he selected the fire departments’ Family Day as the perfect opportunity.
The night before the June 27 event, Jayson told Dasia his squad would be doing a drill, where one person from the squad would have to save a family member from the window of a burning building.
There was a possibility, Jayson added, that he would be chosen, and if he was, Dasia would need to be rescued from the window.
After he had completed his single slide down the building, Jayson came into the audience and informed Dasia that he had been chosen to rescue a family member.
Dasia, who is afraid of heights, was extremely hesitent to be part of the exercise – only to then think of her love of firefighting and how she might not get the chance again.
She then sat in the window of the fourth floor of the training building, waiting for Jayson to rappel down to her before wrapping her arms around him and heading down towards the net below.
But as the pair’s feet touched the ground, Jayson walked Dasia to the middle of the stage and got down on one knee to a huge round of applause, with friends and family stood nearby and fellow firefighters holding up signs asking Dasia to marry him.
The sweet and unique proposal was captured on video by Dasia’s two friends, who later shared their videos on social media.
Dasia said: “When we finished the drill, everyone was cheering for us – I happened to see one of my friends, but I still didn’t know what was going on.
“Then he took my hand and walked me to center stage.
“Then his squad mates held up the marry me letters, but I still didn’t know he was proposing to me.
“It wasn’t until he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring that I realized he was proposing.
“I was so surprised I just stood there with my mouth open, speechless – I genuinely had no idea.
“Of course, I was so happy and became so emotional that I started to cry.
“I immediately said yes because I knew that any man that would make the effort to do something so romantic for me should be my husband.
“There has been overwhelmingly positive feedback on the proposal, it has gone viral and everyone is saying it was so romantic and that the proposal makes them believe in love.
“A lot of men have also been saying that the proposal was so good that it makes them want to step up their game for when they decide to propose to their significant other.”
