'Throwing babies out the window': 8 families escape Detroit apartment fire

Families jump and toss babies to safety as fire rips through Detroit apartment

Eight families are displaced and at least three children had to be thrown out of an apartment building to escape a fire early Thursday morning.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A 3-alarm fire ripped through a Detroit apartment complex Thursday around 3 a.m. and, while everyone was able to escape, they had to take drastic actions to get everyone out alive.

According to the deputy fire chief, a woman and two kids who were forced to jump from the apartment building managed to escape uninjured.

Enayah Warren was one of those who had to jump with her baby from the apartment.

"First of all I had to throw my baby out, and somebody caught the baby, and then I had to jump out, and no one caught me," Warren said. "And I had to hang onto (the ledge) a little bit because I was losing my balance, The smoke was coming out a lot so I had to get out."

The massive fire destroyed 12 units in the complex near I-96 and telegraph. Elijah Neal said the family escaped just in time.

"They were throwing babies out of the window," Elijah Neal said. "As soon as the baby and the young lady came this window, The whole apartment just blew up, flames went everywhere."

Amazingly, only one person was hurt, a 58-year-old woman broke her ankle as she jumped out of the window, but eight families - including three infants - are now looking for a place to live.

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Deputy fire commissioner Dave Fornell said the Red Cross is working to find the families a place to stay. He said the fire could have been much worse because the fire hydrants in the area were blocked.

"With the snow and everything, people didn't think, and parked in front of the fire hydrants. Not a good thing to do," he said.

Michigan law states you must park 15 feet away from a fire hydrant. If you block one, you can get fined or towed. That happened to three people on Thursday.

Fornell said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Fornell also said a woman that was coming home drove up onto the grass near the apartment, which led to her vehicle catching on fire.

A total of eight families including three children were staying at the complex.