CHARLOTTE, N.C. --
Three people, including a 4-month-old baby, were taken to a hospital Monday morning after a two-alarm fire broke out at an apartment on Nobles Avenue.
The fire was reported about 9:30 a.m. at Boulevard Homes, which are located in the 3500 block of Nobles Avenue in west Charlotte.
“I saw the fire coming through the window and the flames kept getting bigger and bigger, so I went over there and knocked on the door,” building resident Samuel Belk said.
Two people came out through the door, and another escaped through a window, Belk said.
A family of eight lived in the apartment where the fire started, fire crews said.
Belk said a crowd then gathered outside of the building, its attention focused on a second-story window where a young woman was holding a 4-month-old baby and screaming for help.
“She was standing at the window with the baby,” neighbor Bobby Stephens said. “I had to argue with her for 10 to 15 minutes.”
Stephens finally convinced the woman to let go of the baby, promising to catch the child. He did, but said it didn’t happen without help.
“God caught the baby,” Stephens said.
Stephens said he then took the baby out of the rain and waited for paramedics to arrive.
“I have never seen anything like that before in my life,” Belk said.
The woman who was caring for the child had passed out, so firefighters had to go in and rescue her. Officials said she suffered the most serious injuries of the three who were taken to Carolinas Medical Center for treatment.
The names of the people injured have not been released.
The Greater Carolinas Chapter of the American Red Cross is helping the family recover after the fire, providing assistance for food and shelter. The organization said it will also work with other residents displaced by the fire on a case-by-case basis.
Firefighters said they got the flames under control in about 20 minutes. A cause has not yet been released.
Baby Tossed To Safety From Window Of Burning Building
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