Local

10-year-old saves baby tossed from burning apartment

DECATUR, Ga. — 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 named Diana 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.

The mother also dropped a 3-year-old, Pierre, who was not injured. Another child dropped was taken to the hospital.