Some in Birmingham are calling it a Christmas miracle, while others say it was the catch of a lifetime.
And, it was caught on video by a civilian.
Amid the chaos of an apartment fire early Christmas morning, people sprung into action when a woman started screaming her children were trapped.
Two children were dropped from a second-story balcony into the arms of other residents.
"It was an infant girl, like a newborn,'' a woman told Al.com reporters. "That baby hit my arms hard."
A man caught an older child following coaxing to drop him. Following the catch, the mother jumped.
A young boy, residents said, remained trapped in the first-floor apartment until firefighters arrived. "In 10 more minutes, the boy would have died,'' firefighters said.
The trapped boy suffered burns and other injuries but is expected to survive. One of the children - believed to be the boy that was trapped the longest - was unresponsive when he left the scene. Police were escorting the ambulances to the hospital.
Unattended cooking was cited as the cause of the fire.
