Mother with infant recounts rescue from burning apartment building

SEATTLE — Eight people, including a mother and her infant, were rescued from a burning apartment building off Ninth Avenue and Madison Street in Seattle on Sunday.

That mother is Hunter Jardine. She says she and her baby, Aiden, are lucky to be alive after smoke filled their apartment.

“I’m shouting, ‘Someone please help me. Help me, I have a baby. He’s not even nine months old.’ I was just screaming at the top of my lungs,” says Jardine.

Firefighters said that when they arrived at the scene, multiple people were screaming for help from the fourth floor. Residents say the fire started down the hall, blocking the floor’s exit.

“All I could think about was, oh my God, I’m either gonna have to jump four stories with my baby in my arms, or I’m gonna have to let us burn alive if they don’t get here soon enough,” says Jardine.

Jardine says she frantically waited for firefighters while holding Aiden out of their fourth-floor window to protect him from the smoke. She recalls her relief when firefighters used a ladder to rescue them.

“That was the best feeling of my life, knowing that my son was finally safe,” says Jardine.

As Jardine works to rebuild her life, she’s set up a GoFundMe page for her and Aiden. She hopes to use the money to buy baby supplies for her son and pay for a new apartment. Because of the fire, residents of 63 apartment units were displaced.

“It was... it was awful. It was traumatizing. We lost everything. Literally, everything is either covered and sit or it’s just gone,” says Jardine.

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