A grandmother’s heroic actions saved the life of her 5-year-old granddaughter from an apartment fire in Hampton, Georgia.
According to local news reports, Jacqueline Roberts jumped from the second-floor window to safety with her small grandchild.
According to 11Alive News, the incident took place a little after 4 p.m. at an apartment along Nicole Drive on March 27. Roberts was awakened by family members who alerted her of the fire. She explained that her daughter grabbed her grandson and granddaughter, then proceeded to walk down the 17 flights of stairs. But then her granddaughter Autumn ran back up the stairs, Roberts said.
“It was so hot, and my daughter shout to me, ‘Mommy, get Autumn, get Autumn,’ ” she recalled.
Roberts had decided to return upstairs to retrieve important documents, like her identification card, she said. She was able to find her granddaughter through the smoke.
“If I had gone downstairs with my daughter, my granddaughter would have been in the fire. She would have perished,” Roberts explained as tears came down her face.
“I saw her silhouette in my son’s doorway,” she recalled. “She said, ‘Grandma, get me, Grandma, get me, Grandma, don’t leave me. Save me.’ “
Roberts then explained that the only way out was through a second-story window that was about 15 feet off the ground.
“By this time, the smoke is coming now,” she said. “It’s getting a little more dangerous. She’s coughing, I’m coughing.”
“I kind of bent over on my window to where the front of my stomach and my pelvic bone were over [the windowsill],” she said. “When I dropped her she said, ‘Ouch’ and then said, ‘I’m OK, Grandma.’ Then I said, ‘OK, you have to move now so Grandma can jump.’ “
Roberts said she was thankful the rain made the grass muddy and soft for her to land.
“I’m on the floor laying down, and one foot is going this way, and the other foot is going this way, and my body is one way,” she said.
The 52-year-old woman was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital because she reportedly suffered two broken ankles and a few bruises. Her granddaughter only had a few scratches.
Roberts said that fire officials and her landlord told her that the cause of the fire was electrical.
“I just love my children and my first granddaughter,” she said. “I love my grandkids. The only option I had was to save her life. Not even mine, really. I wasn’t even thinking about myself, honestly. It was to get her out because she’s only five years old. I’m 52, I’ve lived life, and she didn’t start to experience life.”
It was reported that she lost everything in her apartment and her family has started a GoFundMe account to help pay for her medical bills.
