Florida Woman, Two Children Jump From Second-Story Apartment Building Onto Concrete Sidewalk To Escape Fire

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials say a mother and her two children were left with no other choice but to jump from their second-story apartment building and onto a concrete sidewalk in order to escape a fire.

At around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13, fire rescue responded to a call about heavy smoke and flames emitting from the Cordova Apartments located at 12702 University Club Ct. near USF in Tampa, Florida.

However, before their arrival, a mother, Jannatul Juthy, and her two children, 13-year-old Mohammad and 11-year-old Ahammed, had to jump 10-feet to the ground in order to save their own lives.

The family survived the jump but when emergency medical services arrived at the scene, Juthy was transported to a local hospital after landing hard on her side, but she is expected to be okay.

It was reported that Zaved Quorishi was at work when his family had to jump from their two-story apartment building in a bid to save their lives, but he said his son called and said, “Daddy, there was a fire at the house so you have to come immediately.”

He went on to say that his “wife made a quick decision and asked my two kids to jump from the balcony and they did it and they survived.”

“I’m grateful to my God my two kids and my wife are still alive.”

Juthy told reporters that she is saddened by the fire that took the lives of two dogs because she has nothing and has to start all over again. She and her family are now living with a relative, Sadia Jeny, who said she was devastated after learning about the fire.

She added, “I just dropped everything and I ran towards the house. Seeing them not hurt, that was a huge relief for me.”

Juthy and her family are not the only ones without homes, it appears eight families in the apartment complex lost their home as well.

For a few days, staff at the Red Cross will be providing the families with food, clothing, and shelter.

After an hour, about 45 firefighters were able to get the fire under control. It was later uncovered that the fire started from a resident on the first floor, who left food unattended.

The resident, whose name has not been released to the public, told authorities that he was cooking French fries when he left the kitchen. It was not immediately clear how long the resident left the food unattended but he stated that when he returned, his kitchen was on fire.

After learning about the fire, former residents at Cordova Apartments turned to Facebook, stating that “these apartments become old and the wiring gets eaten by rats which expose the wires and there’s a fire, all wiring should,” said Bob Young.

“Be in conduit, which is aluminum pipes.”

Young added, “Our city council needs to pass an ordinance that has all apartments that are over 20 years old checked for fire hazards, which is the electric wiring in these old apartment complexes, I know the Houston apartment association.”

“Has a lot of pull at city hall ever wonder why that is? But lives are in danger and it needs to be done for the safety of the residents.”

Mary Gauffreny-Diaz also wrote in a Facebook post that she “lives there and more than half of the units here are remolded and super nice never had rats in my condo. Sad that a life was lost.”

The management team is working diligently to find apartments for the families while their “sister property, Millenium Westshore, is collecting toiletries, toys and gift cards to help the people dealing with all of this during the holidays.”

[Featured Image by DarthArt/iStock]