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Witnesses Recall Residents Jumping, Baby Thrown From Window In Apartment Fire

By Melissa Garcia

DENVER (CBS4) - One person is in critical condition after an apartment complex fire sent 11 people to the hospital.

Residents from all 24 units at the Federal View Apartments were forced to find a place to stay while apartment management assessed the damage from Sunday night's fire. Investigators were working to determine a cause.

The fire broke out around 9:15 p.m. at the complex on Federal Boulevard near West 26th Avenue.

Witnesses said people were jumping and falling out of windows to escape the flames.

federal view apartments fire
(credit: CBS)

One couple on the third floor had to toss their baby out of the apartment window.

CBS4's Melissa Garcia spoke with the woman who caught the baby.  Reyna Rodriguez said that she was at the 7-Eleven next door when she heard screams.

"I heard, 'Save my baby, there's a fire!'" said Rodriguez.  "I could see smoke, smoke and screaming and yelling.  And that's all I needed to see, and I was there."

Rodriguez ran to the nearby apartments where the fire was blazing inside.

"I saw the lady and the gentleman holding their baby out the window and the cloud of smoke just covering them," she said.

Rodriguez said that she and a homeless man grabbed a blanket that had been thrown from another window, and held it out while the couple tossed their baby down from the third floor unit.

"As soon as the baby landed, I grabbed the baby," Rodriguez said, starting to choke up.  "Then the mom came and then the dad.  The mom injured herself on the way down."

window
(credit: CBS)

Residents said that thick smoke pouring from the building left some of them no other choice than to jump.

"It was so bad. You couldn't get out of the doors because of the fire and smoke. It was horrible," said Joey Pacheco, who was cooking in his apartment when the fire broke out.

"I could hear the panic in the adults' voices," said Melissa Boyer, a next door neighbor. "I think because it was so late at night, kids were sleeping and weren't really sure what was going on."

Rodriguez learned that other families had to make a similar escape to the one she witnessed.

"I thought it was just them, and I found out (there were) more victims and more families and children.  (I'm) really sad and touched," said Rodriguez.

She said she visited the hospital on Monday, but was not able to see the family in person.

Rodriguez said she wants to be reunited, and that she has a gift for the baby she helped rescue.

Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.

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