Woman jumps from burning building in Crestwood, Illinois, with her dog to escape fire
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Nineteen people won't be spending the holidays in their homes in southwest suburban Crestwood, after an accidental fire consumed their condo building earlier this month.
One woman who lives in the building at 5700 W. 128th St. had to jump from her third-floor balcony to escape the flames and not only save her life, but her dog, Poquito.
On Dec. 4, Emma Hasty had been getting ready for a night out with friends, when a fire started in the condo building around 5 p.m., flames consuming the building.
Hasty lived on the 3rd floor, and when she heard a neighbor's fire alarm going off, she ran to her front door and opened it.
"I saw a ton of super-thick black smoke, and a bunch of heat just really kind of waft right in. I didn't waste any time trying to close the door and run away from it," she said.
Hasty quickly picked up her 6-year-old Pomeranian-Maltese mix, Poquito, and ran to her balcony to escape.
"I tried to kind of hang down at first, to see if my bottom feet could reach my neighbor's downstairs railing, like the second unit, but my feet did not reach," she said.
She grabbed the bottom railing of her balcony to jump down.
"I managed to land sort of in the middle of the second balcony," she said.
As she looked up, she saw half of her condo building was on fire.
"I was pretty frightened; because, I mean, I was really close to the fire, and it was burning so fast," she said.
Hasty said she had no choice at that moment. She held Poquito in the air with one hand above her head and jumped to the ground below.
"He didn't get hurt. I saved him. There was no way I was going to let him get injured, or hurt, or burned," she said.
But Hasty herself did get hurt. She broke her tibia, requiring a metal plate and three very long screws to fix it.
"I had tried to get up about three times before I really … I kept falling, so that's how I knew I broke it," Hasty said. "The surgeons were able to follow the incision line with my tattoo lines, like the ink, so it was really cool, that they, you could barely notice the scar. They did a great job."
Hasty said she's just grateful to be alive.
"The only thing that made it out was my cellphone, and Poquito, and me," Hasty said. "I'm so happy and grateful I was home when this all happened so I could make it out with him, because I wouldn't be able to go on without him. He's my best friend."
Hasty is turning 27 on the 27th of this month. She's a dog groomer, and has been unable to work. With the holidays and her birthday in mind, her best friend set up a GoFundMe page to help Hasty rebuild her life. With an initial goal of raising $10,000, the page already has raised more than $16,000.