PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) — Right now, investigators are trying to find out what caused a fire that left two children in critical condition in Pontiac. The fire chief said they suffered severe burns and smoke inhalation.
It happened just after midnight at the Cornerstone Townhomes off Ridgemont Drive. The children's mother and baby sister fell to safety.
“I just want those babies to be OK," neighbor Gladys Turner told 7 Action News.
She gave a heartfelt hug to Waterford Regional Fire Chief Matthew Covey for the heroic actions of his crew and Oakland County sheriff's deputies.
Around 12:30 a.m., Turner said she was in her unit when she heard smoke detectors going off and a man yelling for help. She said that man was standing outside the burning unit. His girlfriend and their baby were trapped upstairs in the front room.
“She threw the baby that was in the bed with her — thank God — out the window and the dad caught the baby and set it on the ground. He kept telling her, 'Jump, jump.' (He) finally got her to jump out of the window," Turner explained.
At that point, two other children — ages 2 and 4 — were still trapped inside of the engulfed townhome.
“(He was) telling (the 4-year-old), 'Come to the window. Come to the window.' But the babies were asleep,” Turner recalled.
Firefighters said they arrived within four critical minutes.
“The screen door, (the firefighter) just took one hand and he tossed it like it was a piece of paper," Turner described.
After dousing some flames at the doorway and stairway, firefighters rushed in to rescue each child.
“He handed him off to the (sheriff's deputy) and that (sheriff's deputy) was running like he was in the Olympics and took the baby over to the ambulance," Turner said.
Fire Chief Matthew Covey said, “(There was) a lot of fire. They were able to locate the children quickly and get them out and they were transported to two separate hospitals in Pontiac, and shortly after, due to their burns and smoke inhalation were taken to Children’s Hospital in Detroit."
"As we know right now, both children are in critical condition," he said.
Covey said six units sustained various levels of damage and displaced residents. That includes Norman Reed Jr., who lives directly next to the unit where the fire started, along with his brother who has special needs.
He said he’s concerned about the children.
“That right there just breaks my heart when that happened to any kind of human being," Reed told 7 Action News.
