(CNN) The man who scaled a burning 19-story building in West Philadelphia last week wasn't trying to escape the flames, as people initially assumed.

The man, identified only as Jermaine, was climbing to the 15th floor to save his bedridden mother. And he did it all with an injured hip.

Jermaine and his mother.

CNN affiliate WPVI spoke with the hero, 35, who said he received a call from his sister Thursday night that their mother's apartment building was on fire and she couldn't get out.

Rushing to the scene, Jermaine said, he first tried to enter through the front door, but it was blocked by police.

"They said the elevators are not working," he said. He told officers he could just take the stairs. "They were like, 'we can't let you in.'

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