Mother, 3 Kids Forced To Jump From Burning Home In Middletown
MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A mother and her children barely made it out of a roaring fire that ripped through a house in Orange County over the weekend.
As CBS2's Steve Langford reported, when the Middletown home burst into flames early Sunday morning, the mother and her three children found themselves trapped upstairs.
"The front of the house, they couldn't get out. They had to bail and jump out the second-floor window in the back of the house," said neighbor Anthony Werner.
The mother -- holding her 3-year-old son -- jumped along with her 6-year-old daughter and teenager.
"She did a great job. She got her family out and did what she had to do for her family," said Middletown Fire Chief Sam Barone. "I give her a lot of credit."
The father of the three children was away for the weekend, Langford reported.
"Oh jeez, that's some phone call," Barone said. "I have two kids of my own. I never want phone call like that."
At the elementary school where the father is a highly respected social worker, donations have flooded in to help the family that now must start over from scratch.
"He helps so many inside the community that I think people are just paying it forward cause if they were in need he would be the first one there to help," said school principal Lisa Collopy.
The fire chief said a family member suffered a broken ankle and a broken heel along with some internal injuries, but nothing life-threatening.
