MIAMI – Police credited two Good Samaritans for helping a family out of their burning apartment building late Tuesday.
The fire started inside a unit in the 1900 block of Northwest 2nd Court.
Krista Lively said she rushed to the apartment when she received a phone call from her daughter, who said she was trapped on the second floor with her 4 and 6-year-old children.
"She was screaming and crying and hollering in my ears that the house is on fire," said Lively.
Jerald Lecky and his friend were doing their laundry when they heard the family calling for help. They stood below the second-floor window and caught Lively's daughter, that woman's sister, and Lively's grandchildren as they jumped to safety.
"They were just panicking and panicking. Kids were screaming," said Lecky.
"He caught the kids and adults were trying to get down, so we helped them get down too," another man added.
Lively blamed her daughter's ex-boyfriend for starting the fire. Police arrested him late Tuesday on an unrelated charge, according to Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll. His name wasn't immediately released.
Carroll said investigators were awaiting lab results before ruling the fire as arson.