10-year-old Girl Catches 1-Month-Old Baby Dropped from Burning Apartment

WSB TV ^ | July 25, 2013 | Wendy Corona

[Jeff Winston]

A woman in a wheelchair and a 10-year-old were the unlikely heroes at a Decatur apartment fire Thursday. A mother's desperate action to save her babies turned neighbors into rescuers.

"I caught the newborn baby from falling. Before it had hit the ground I caught it," said Zna Gresham, 10.

Gresham said she just did what was asked after she ran out of her burning apartment to safety outside.

"Then when I was getting out, the lady from upstairs, she was dropping her babies and she asked me and my sister can she get the babies for her," Zna told Channel 2's Wendy Corona.

Before firefighters got to the newborn, the 1-month-old baby landed in the safe embrace of the young hero, who refused to take all the credit.

"It took all of my family to help get the babies out and help save a family," Zna said.

Zna credits her aunt's action for beginning the string of rescues.

"By me holding the door open, everybody got out OK," Tasha Allen, Zna's aunt, said.

The DeKalb County Fire Department was on scene within five minutes of the 911 call, pulling residents to safety and knocking the blaze down quickly.

"If it wasn't for God, we wouldn't be here right now. So I really do, I thank God," Allen said.

The fire started in Allen's downstairs apartment, an apparent grease fire in the kitchen.

One unit was destroyed and three others were damaged, displacing more than a dozen people.

"In our family we take care of our neighbors no matter what. No matter if they get hurt or anything, we take care of them," Zna said.

[Jeff Winston]

Mom had to drop the kids out of the window of the burning apartment, and 10-year-old Zna caught the 1-month-old baby.

Excerpt from another account:

“I caught the newborn baby from falling, before it hit the ground I had caught it,” she said.

The family upstairs, with three young children, had no choice but to drop the three children, said DeKalb County Fire Battalion Chief Christopher Morrison.

“The smoke was rising so quickly to the upper floors, they couldn’t make their way outside their upper apartment into the hallway because of the smoke,” Morrison told WSB Radio.

“They just went to a window and they threw the child outside to the people, to the neighbors, down on the ground,” he said.

The other two children, ages 2 and 3, hit the ground and sustained minor injuries in the fall, fire officials said.

Two adults were also hospitalized, but they were also expected to survive...

Zna said she could barely understand what the mother in the second-floor was saying because she is Haitian and speaks a different language. But she understood enough to know that she would need to catch the baby.

“In our family we take care of our neighbors, no matter what,” Zna said.

Congratulations, Zna! You did a great thing.

[Lizavetta]

Good for her !! Something she’ll never forget.

[Huskrrrr]

I need to hear stories such as these. Well done, little one.

[The KG9 Kid]

Sign that kid up.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Wow! And she doesn’t want any credit or a year’s free meals at McDonalds. Great kid.

[RoosterRedux]

God isn't a myth or a creation of religion (be it Christian, Jewish, Islamic, or otherwise).

Wise men and women know he is real! They have seen His evidence but they know such evidence disappears from those who demand it before believing.

In the end (pure speculation on my part) he will ask if you love Him or if you hate Him.

Please consider this choice carefully. It will/may be eternal.

[Standing Wolf]

Well done, young lady!

[bigbob]

Saving a life at age 10 is nothing short of amazing. Well done!

[duffee]

Excellant, Zna did great deed and for all the right resons. Good to read of something like this with all going on today.

[Dartman]

"If it wasn't for God, we wouldn't be here right now. So I really do, I thank God," Allen said.

Amen. And thank God for that brave 10-year-old girl.

[null and void]

Some people spend their whole lives wondering if their lives have a purpose, if they were put on this earth for a reason. Zna need never wonder (although she could speculate if that was the event, or merely training for a greater future one)...

[SueRae]

My kind of hero! I so wish these were the headline banners on Drudge and every other news outlet. We need to promote the GOOD news, especially by the young people, who need real role models these days more than ever.

[Squantos]

Awesome !

[jodyel]

I want them to come and live next door to me...heck, with me! Wow, so proud and happy to see this community of kind-hearted, polite, just decent folk!

God bless the whole bunch!

[publius911]

Bookmark

[publius911]

What a refreshing, positive and delightful change from the worst to the best. Glad the good is displacing the dysfunctional from the news.

[Shimmer1]

Thank the Lord for this young lady.

[Jeff Winston]

What a refreshing, positive and delightful change from the worst to the best. Glad the good is displacing the dysfunctional from the news.

There's way too much dysfunctional.

The thing I thought was particularly remarkable about this case was the young age of the 10-year-old girl, and the young age of the month-old baby she caught.

[ClearBlueSky]

Was this is Decatur Alabama or Decatur Georgia? Mentioning cities and not states is maddening. In either case this child is a rare specimen these days . She should be rewarded somehow for her heart and humanity.

[Jeff Winston]

Georgia. I actually marked it as a topic for Georgia, so there’s a subtle clue in the post topics.

But the article doesn’t say, and a post topic is very easy to miss. :-)