Parents toss babies out window to save them from fire

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The Fort Wayne Fire Department is investigating an early morning house fire that sent four people to the hospital.

The fire started around 7:00 a.m. in the 3700-block of South Barr Street, just north of Rudisill Boulevard.

FWFD Assistant Chief Michael Miller said the call reported people trapped upstairs in the house. The Fire department responded in less than a minute and found fire venting from a window on the first floor.

A man and a woman and two babies were injured and laying outside the house, Miller said. Natalie Church, 23, and Christopher Dunning, 34, were engaged and had been a couple for about three years, according to Church's aunt, Donna Cinquegrana. They are the parents of the children, a four-month-old boy and a boy about a year and a half old.

"I'm surprised they got out alive. I really am. I'm glad the smoke detector woke them up. The father went to go downstairs and got hit with smoke. His reaction was, 'Get the kids and let's jump,'" Cinquegrana said.

Church and Dunning dropped the children out of an upstairs window to a person standing outside below. They then jumped out afterwards.

LouAnn Keefer lives three houses down from the fire. She told NewsChannel 15 that a man who looked to be in his 30's was at a gas station about seven houses down the block when he saw smoke coming from the house. He quickly drove down the street, and he was the one who caught the babies, Keefer said.

"I should have asked what his name was. I said, 'Thanks. Thanks for everything you did for them.' He's a hero," Keefer said.

Keefer saw the smoke and also ran down the street to help.

"The mother was on the ground and I ran over to see if she was okay. She was dazed and confused and said she was asleep and now her house is on fire," Keefer said. "Her little boy was there and I picked him up. They were all covered in black soot."

Keefer said Church and the babies were in the front yard with the good samaritan. Dunning, she said, was on the side of the house with a broken leg.

Miller said all four people were transported to the hospital with smoke inhalation. Church and the two children were released from the hospital later Thursday afternoon. Cinquegrana said Dunning wasn't released because of his broken leg. He's still in the hospital for observation.

Miller said the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction to the power cord on a window air conditioning unit in the first floor living room.

"Smoke detectors saved the lives of these four people today," Miller said. "By the time the smoke detector alerted them, they were barely able to get out. If they didn't have a working smoke detector we'd be talking about four fatalities right now."

Miller urged everyone to check their own smoke detectors to make sure they are working.