6 children, 2 adults rescued from burning building in Southeast DC

6 children, including newborn baby, rescued from burning building in DC

A dramatic scene unfolded in Southeast D.C. on Thursday as six children were pulled out of a burning building. FOX 5's Josh Rosenthal had a chance to speak with the heroic firefighters and a civilian who made the rescue.

WASHINGTON - A dramatic scene unfolded in Southeast D.C. on Thursday as six children were pulled out of a burning building. 

FOX 5 had a chance to speak with the heroic firefighters and a civilian who made the rescue.

What we know:

The flames broke out in an apartment in the 3500 Block of 6th Street, SE, a little after 6 p.m. on Jan. 15.

 The unit was destroyed, but thankfully, firefighters were able to get a total of eight people — two adults and six children, including a newborn — out safely. 

The blaze was on the top floor of a three-story building, and the firefighters from Truck 16 made the save, along with a little help from a man who lives nearby.

A heroic effort:

"There was smoke coming out of the window, and the lady was there in the window with some of her babies, and we set up two ladders side-by-side and just had people going up and down, grabbing kids, and coming down with them. Jeffrey over here, he helped out. He was holding the ladder, he was holding kids. Every time I turned around, he had another kid in his hands, and we were just taking kids, getting them to the ambulance so they’d be nice and warm, and yeah, we just kept pulling out kids. Every time I turned around there was another kid," said Lt. Jason Lerch with D.C. Fire and EMS. 

"They progressively got smaller as they were coming down the ladder. I think they did them in like size order," Lerch went on to say.

That good Samaritan, neighbor Jeffrey Broadwater, Jr., said as he was holding the ladder and working to assist the firefighters, he was only thinking, "I just hope nobody falls and everybody makes it out safe."

When asked how he managed to stay so calm while rescuing eight people, Lerch told FOX 5, "That’s our job. This is what we do."

Big picture view:

In the end, firefighters tell us two adults and one child were taken to the hospital for evaluation, but their conditions are not serious and they are expected to be ok. 

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.