Riverside firefighters recount helping homeless man along freeway, giving him shoes

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- Riverside firefighters who gave a homeless elderly man walking along the freeway shoes have become a social media sensation.

The firefighters were returning from training when they noticed an older homeless man struggling to walk on a freeway overpass.

"We noticed that he was moving really slow and he was just barely out of the traffic line. We were really worried about his safety," Capt. Robert Gabler said.

The Engine 6-C members saw traffic whizzing by mere inches from the man. So the crew turned around and headed back to help him out.

Firefighter David Gilstrap then made a decision to give the man his own shoes that were sitting on the fire truck's console.

It took a team effort to get the shoes to the homeless man. Gilstrap could not exit into traffic so he handed the shoes over to Gabler, who went out and put the shoes on the man.

The Riverside Fire Department posted the kind gesture on its Facebook page, which showed photos of Gabler kneeling down to help tie the shoes that ended up being too big.

"The gentleman either way was very grateful of the fact that he had something on his feet. It was a very cold day. It had to be at least maybe 55 degrees that day," Firefighter Christian Adams said.