Mother breaks window to help 10-month old baby escape apartment fire
A family is breathing a sigh of relief after a terrifying fire at an apartment in Etobicoke forced a mother to break a second-floor window to save her 10-month-old daughter.
Tamara Harris said she was stuck inside a building unit with her young daughter as smoke started filling the hallways of the apartment on Eighth Street near Lake Shore Boulevard West on Wednesday morning.
Panicking, she said she broke a window in order to pass her baby to someone outside of the burning building.
She said a neighbour down below reached up and grabbed the baby.
Harris said she suffered extensive cuts on her hand and wrists when she smashed the second storey window.
“I said okay. My baby is going is to suffocate. We are going to die in here so I punched in the window,” she said.
She said firefighters eventually arrived and helped Harris out of the building. Both she and the baby were taken to hospital and are now in good health. They are currently waiting to be placed in a hotel.
Tenant Andre Johnson says the smoke was really thick. He said he ran to the exit door before firefighters arrived and started calling out to the residents in the hallway to come towards the sound of his voice.
Firefighters say they had the fire under control quickly, but two units suffered extensive damage. Tenants say it was a frightening situation.
TTC buses were brought in to provide shelter from the cold. The superintendent says more than 40 people were forced out of their units.
Some are being temporarily moved to vacant units in an adjacent building while others are staying with friends.
Watson and Harris said their daughter had some health issues when she was born and she spent the first few weeks of her life in hospital receiving treatment.
Now, months later, the little girl has survived a fire.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.