'I Started Throwing My Babies Out Of The Window': Dallas Condo Residents Escape 4-Alarm Fire
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Flames ripped through an apartment complex in North Dallas in the early morning hours on Wednesday.
It was just before 1:00 a.m. when Dallas Fire Rescue was called to the Sable Ridge Condominiums in the 6100 block of Abrams Road, near Northwest Highway.
Residents crawled out of windows and were sent running from their homes as fire engulfed one of the 3-story units. When firefighters arrived smoke and flames were coming from the first and second floors of the building.
First responders said all of the residents were able to make it out safely before they arrived, so fire crews could immediately get to the business of extinguishing the flames.
Resident Megan White said it wasn't the fire but her neighbors that got her attention. "I woke up and I heard a lot of screaming so I went to my front door to see what was going on. I opened my door and my door was just engulfed… it was engulfed in flames."
White went on to say that her focus immediately turned to her children. "So I pulled my window open and as soon as I pulled it open and I got my blinds out of the way, I had to snatch my blinds and stuff down, I started throwing my babies out of the window. Like my babies were still asleep. I was throwing them out of the window... I just had to save my kids."
Nearly 90 firefighters battled the blaze that ultimately reached 4-alarms. DFR spokesman Jason Evans said, "Upon making initial entry attack teams discovered that the fire had already made it's way into the floor spaces, and was a lot more advanced than originally thought."
Firefighters took a defensive posture as flames began to show through the roof. A total of 30 condominiums were in the building and the majority of them were damaged by fire, smoke and water. Fire investigators later determined the building was a "collapse hazard" and actually began tearing it down before the lunch hour.
No firefighters were injured and the American Red Cross is assisting the 90 or so residents that have been forced from their homes... many with just the clothes on their backs.
The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation.