By Holly Yan
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
With seconds to decide, Enrique Hernandez faced a life-threatening choice - wait with his 18-month-old daughter in a burning apartment for help to arrive, or toss her out the second-floor window.
He chose the latter. And it worked.
While they waited for firefighters to arrive, residents throughout an Old East Dallas apartment building took matters in their own hands.
Emily Calderon heard the screams before she smelled the smoke.
“I went out running with my grandchildren. ... I was worried because of the guy and girl [upstairs],” she said.
The fire quickly engulfed the second floor of the building near the intersection of Peak Street and Cabell Drive shortly before 8 a.m. Monday. Neighbors said Agar Rangel, her 18-month-old daughter, Mia, and Mr. Hernandez were trapped and leaning out of a bedroom window.
So Ms. Calderon’s son grabbed a mattress and pulled it below the second-floor window. A couple of passers-by screamed for the parents to drop the child.
Mr. Hernandez held Mia out the window and let go.
One of the men caught the baby. Neighbors said Ms. Rangel then jumped out the second-floor window onto the mattress. She was hospitalized with a broken leg and burns.
Mia was not seriously injured but spent some time in a hospital for observation.
Ms. Rangel is about 1 month pregnant. Gerardo Sanchez, a downstairs, said that she was in stable condition at Baylor University Medical Center on Monday and that her pregnancy appeared to be unaffected.
Mr. Hernandez was fine. A friend said firefighters arrived in time to rescue him from the blaze.
“They’re real lucky,” said Mr. Sanchez. “We’re real lucky.”
Investigators determined the cause of the fire to be an overloaded extension cord. Almost every inch of the family’s space — two small bedrooms, a kitchenette and a tiny bathroom — was charred and gutted.
Firefighters estimated the damage to be about $60,000. Mr. Sanchez said the small apartment building would probably have to be torn down.
In the meantime, many in the tight-knit neighborhood spent their afternoon cleaning and helping those who lost their homes.
Fire officials say as many as eight families were displaced.
Mary Mejest carried bread, a vase and whatever else could be salvaged from the apartment to her house for storage until Ms. Rangel could come home.
She said she went to the same church as Ms. Rangel and they are close. “I fed part of her family today,” she said.