This browser does not support the Video element.
Residents describe moments leading up to escaping house fire by jumping out window
Three residents escaped uninjured and one other is in temporary serious condition after a fire broke out at a Detroit home Tuesday morning. A fifth occupant, a man in his 60s, died from the fire.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Two roommates described their escape from a burning home in Detroit Tuesday morning as a "miracle" when they jumped through the second story window.
Both still had soot on their bodies from the fire, which raged through a home in northern Detroit near Eight Mile.
"I reached in there as far as I could and I grabbed her and I pulled her right to the window and got us both out of there," said Jason Dando. "So that was a miracle in itself."
Dando and his roommate Candice Mazek were two of the lucky three to escape the fire with few physical injuries. However, the trauma remains.
"I'm still in shock," Mazek said. "It's like nothing you can explain. I would never jump out a window but that was the only choice."
Of the five people that lived at the home in the 20500 block of Rogge, near Van Dyke, one suffered second-degree burns and remains in temporary serious condition. Another man in his 60s died.
"The home was fully engulfed," said Detroit Fire Chief James Harris. "The men and women of the Detroit Fire Department did an awesome job. They did the best they could extinguishing the fire and unfortunately there was a victim."
Crews are still investigating the causes of the fire, as well as what kept the victims from escaping the blaze.
MORE: Moth species not seen in U.S. in a century found in Detroit airport luggage
"I believe the other roommate was trying to get outside and he couldn't get out of the locked door because of the double dead bolts," said Dando.
Crews are also investigating if bars on the windows hindered those trying to flee.