The residents of a Detroit apartment were forced to jump from second-and-third story windows after a fire tore through the building.
Arson detectives and search dogs arrived at the scene shortly after receiving calls of the blaze to begin combing through the piles of debris, ash and brick leftover from the fire. No deaths have been reported, but some of the complex's residents have still not been accounted for, according to the Associated Press.
For Detroit Fire Department Capt. Pat McNulty, some might have left the area to meet with family members, which does happen following house fires like these.
"It's hard to nail down," McNulty told the Associated Press.
More than four people were immediately transferred to nearby medical facilities, while a handful of others received treatment on-site.
The roof had collapsed, according to Fire Battalion Chief Tracy Thomas, making it difficult for search and rescue teams to sift through the rubble.
Dozens of adults and children were forced to leap from 39 of the 42 units in Jason Manor Apartments on Wednesday. 28-year-old resident Tameka Williams told the Associated Press that she woke up to the blaze at about 6 a.m., after her boyfriend alerted her of the situation. They attempted exiting the apartment with her two kids, but choking smoke billowing outside of the door stopped them.
"We went to the window and I dropped them down, then I jumped down and then he jumped down," Williams recalled to the Associated Press. Her children, ages eight and six, were not injured.
"I lost everything," she said. "I'm alive. I'm still here. That other stuff can be replaced."
A few hours after she jumped from the building into the frigid 18 degree weather, Williams was given a pair of pants and socks to wear.
"I didn't even have on no pants," she said of her escape. "No underwear. No pants. Just bare. I saw a couple of people who were on the third floor when we jumped out. They were saying 'Help! Help!' and I'm telling them, 'Just jump.' I don't know if they jumped out...I just pray that they made it out."
The American Red Cross and Salvation Army reportedly worked with the Redford Aldersgate United Methodist Church to provide shelter for the people who were rescued.
