A mother was forced to throw her child from a second-story window when flames engulfed her apartment building early Monday.
Mary Jones and her daughter were asleep in the apartment in southwest suburban Lyons around 12:20 a.m. when they first heard sirens. Jones said she tried to go out the door but there was too much smoke.
"Police told me to bust a window open and drop my daughter down, then I would have to come down after her," Jones said. "It seemed like a dream, like this happens in movies."
After she dropped her little girl into the arms of police officers, Jones jumped too. They both escaped the flames with no injuries.
"I just wanted to make sure that she was safe," Jones said, "so I just hurried up and you know gave her to the police so that she would get out of house."
It was a police officer who first spotted the smoke and started getting people out of the building on the 4500 block of Prescott Avenue.
He ran inside and started banging on doors to get people out of the six units. More officers arrived, and they helped catch the mother and daughter who jumped.
"It's Easter Sunday and for us to come up on such a large fire in this apartment building and get everyone out safely, I’m very proud of them," Lyons Police Commander Brian Kuratko said.
One officer was overcome by all the smoke and went to the hospital but is expected to be OK.
Several others had to be helped from the building as well, and in all, 11 people were displaced.
