Two Young Sisters Jumped From Third Floor To Escape Burning Apartment Building [Video]
Two sisters who were trapped inside their burning home were left with no choice but to jump out of the window from the third floor to escape, Daily Mail reports.
Atlanta news crew who arrived before firefighters captured the horrifying moment sisters of Atlanta, Georgia – aged 17 and 6 – jumped from the third floor of their burning home at Morgan’s Landing Apartments.
Horrifying moment two girls escape burning building through third storey window. http://t.co/69qrwNcPhk pic.twitter.com/GNs8rII9S6
— Herald Sun (@theheraldsun) July 2, 2015
Neighbors Thomas Lemmon and Deigo Silva rushed to their aide when they heard the pair screaming and banging on the windows for help. While standing on the deck, the two men advised the girls to break the windows and jump out to safety.
“They were frantic and they were crying and they were upset and you could actually see the fire was approaching them, going from one apartment to another apartment getting closer and closer to them,” said Amber Vannoy who witnessed the incident.
“I could hear banging on the window so I ran down and went up the stairs, and told them to break the window,” said Lemmon.
“I heard someone banging on the window. You could see the window all broken, so we just ran over there and helped them out,” Silva added.
In the footage, the 17-year-old girl is seen jumping from the third floor after neighbor says, “Jump! Don’t panic.” She plummets head first, but is caught by the two men before her head could reach the ground. Seconds after she jumps, her younger sister jumped, but badly cut her leg.
“They broke the window and jumped down. The older one, she was 17, she jumped down, and I caught her, then I looked up and the six-year-old was jumping down,” says Lemmon.
“The glass caught her leg though, her leg was wide open.”
Seconds after the girls jumped out of the window and made their way to safety, onlookers could hear windows being busted out by the large fire. Firefighters were now at the scene and were scene using water pumps to tame the raging flames.
Afterwards, the girls were transported to a local children’s hospital with lacerations, but doctors say they are in stable condition.
A young girl who was a resident at the apartments stated: “The most important thing is that we got out.”
It was reported that the fire started after a resident threw a lit cigarette in a box filled with paper in the back of the building. It quickly started a huge fire, burning off the entire roof.
It is unclear if the resident will face any charges for causing the fire that left 29 people without a home, which Red Cross is expected to step in and help.
[Image courtesy of Daivd Mcnew/ Getty Images]
