Several of the barefoot kids scampered to the attic as thick smoke and flames filled the Kensington house shortly before 7:30 a.m.
But the children -- among 13 in the house -- were paralyzed with fear and wouldn't leap from the window, their only way out.
One by one, Mohammad Qasim, 46, a father of three who lived in the home with his sister and her six kids, grabbed a niece, a nephew and his own son and tossed them to a pitched roof 10 feet below.
"They didn't want to jump," said Qasim, who works in a nearby grocery store and has been living in the home for 10 years. "I wanted to save my children's lives. I lost everything, but thank God everyone is OK."
Neighbors ran to the home to help the kids just as firefighters arrived.
Firefighters, with the help of a ladder, rushed the children to safety once they were on the first-floor roof.
A teenager also jumped out the attic window. The other people in the home were rescued from the first floor.
Qasim's son Humzah, 10, injured his leg when he landed on the roof. He was treated and released from Methodist Hospital.
"A nice man grabbed me and pulled me down," Humzah said. "I feel like I got a second chance to be alive."
Firefighters said the blaze appeared to have started in the basement at 451 E. Seventh St. and quickly spread. The cause is under investigation.
Neighbors watched in shock as nearly 100 firefighters battled the three-alarm blaze.
Residents of the home, some without shoes, huddled outside in the 20-degree air under blankets supplied by volunteers.
The homeless family will stay at a Red Cross shelter and with relatives.
Republished with permission of The New York Post.
