"We found a fully involved apartment with fire coming out the door," Raleigh Fire Department Chief Gary Spain said. "There was two in the apartment - a mother and son. She dropped the child out of the apartment then she jumped from the third floor into some bushes."
Photos from Chopper 11HD show both were put into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. But fire officials say neither suffered life-threatening injuries.
Even before the fire trucks showed up, some apartment residents jumped into action.
Ahmed Berreziga says he heard screams of a neighbor, which alerted him to the blaze.
He says he ran to the building and grabbed a stairwell fire extinguisher. He helped a woman and her baby and then headed back to the apartment.
"When I go inside and push the door like that, and I see another woman - no clothes, [sic]" Berreziga said. "And I put cover with this baby, this baby like nine months. And I take him off. [sic]"
Berreziga says he got some minor burns on his hand and sprained his foot kicking the door, but it was worth it since everyone got out safely.
Officials say 50 percent of the apartment complex was destroyed and 11 units are uninhabitable.
The fire has been ruled accidental, after authorities said juveniles playing with a lighter started the blaze.
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