Kids leap from 3rd-story window after Christmas tree catches fire, WA officials say

Two young kids had to jump out of a window to safety after their apartment caught fire in Spokane, Washington, The Spokesman Review reported.

The window was about 25 feet high, according to the newspaper. The father had gone to Walmart, leaving the mother and children in the apartment, before the fire started at about 9:30 a.m. Dec. 8, KHQ reported.

The family’s real Christmas tree burst into flames, according to KXLY. The mother ran outside for help but was unable to get back inside, where her 5-year-old and 9-year-old were trapped, KHQ reported.

“There was a difference from what I was hearing for the normal playing and yelling and Nerf guns and stuff like that,” Trevor Main, who manages the apartment complex nearby, told the Spokesman. “There was a young boy yelling, ‘Help me! Help me!’ over and over.”

Mainran to the apartment as the screaming continued and saw “black smoke just pouring out of that top apartment, he said, according to the Spokesman.

“There was a boy leaning out the window crying and screaming for help,” Main told the newspaper. “I just went running straight for that apartment.”

People waited below as the 9-year-old pushed the 5-year-old out of the window and then jumped, KHQ reported. He went head first and slipped through the arms of those trying to catch him below, falling into landscaping rock, according to The Associated Press.

The 9-year-old had to be taken to the hospital but his injuries were not life-threatening, AP reported. Three cats died in the fire, according to KXLY.

Four other apartments were damaged either by water or fire, a release from the Spokane Fire Department said. The tree likely caught fire because it was too close to a “flame source,” according to the release.

This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Kids leap from 3rd-story window after Christmas tree catches fire, WA officials say."