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.