Watch an interview with the 10-year-old hero as she describes what happened.
Ten-year-old Zna Gresham was not able to breathe Thursday afternoon because black smoke filled the apartment.
She ran outside … and saw this: Her upstairs neighbor standing in a window, babies in her arms.
Zna remembers standing under that window with her arms outstretched.
“I was scared. I almost believed I couldn’t catch her,” Zna said, recalling when a 1-month-old infant landed in her arms.
“But I did. I was so happy and relieved. It felt so good because I saved the baby.”
Fire gutted one building at the Arbors on North Decatur Road late Thursday afternoon, displacing four families.
Three children were tossed by their mother from a second-story window. Two, both of them toddlers, were slightly injured, and the 1-month-old, Diana, survived as a result of Zna’s quick action.
On Friday, Diana’s parents were singing Zna’s praises. “Without her, my baby would’ve died,” Maria Baul, the mother, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Investigators believe the fire started in the apartment where Zna lived with her aunt and grandmother. Minor injuries were sustained by Zna’s grandmother and Baul, a refugee of the 2010 Haitian earthquake, who re-injured an ankle that she hurt during the turmoil on the Caribbean island.
Herbert Walden, who lives next door to Baul and her husband, Harold Janvier, said Zna deserves an award.
“She certainly should get at least some kind of commendation,” Walden said.
Zna cradled the baby until her grandmother came out of the house, then gave the infant to her. Zna then did her best to rescue Baul’s two boys, ages 2 and 3, as they were tossed out the window and landed on the ground, suffering minor injuries.
“God did his thing,” Zna said. “He blessed us all.”
Baul said Friday her motherly instincts kicked in when she rushed to take her three babies to the window and to safety.
“I started yelling, ‘Help! Help! Help! Help!’ And I saw three little kids run up,” she said. “Three kids were running in front of the apartment and they came up to the window.”
Baul said she asked Zna to catch each of her babies as she tossed them down.
Zna was only able to break 3-year-old Pierre’s fall, and the two tumbled to the ground.
Sebastian, the 2-year-old, was in the hospital Friday with a neck injury, said Baul’s cousin, Stephenson Castillant.
“But (Zna) caught my Diana,” Baul said. “She did a good job! She did a great job!”
The American Red Cross of Metro Atlanta has temporarily placed the families in a nearby hotel.
Walden said the families won’t be able to recover quickly on their own.
“We can’t bounce back from this easily,” he said. “We’re going to need some help.”
Zna is going into the fifth grade. She doesn’t know where she will be attending school in the fall because she doesn’t know where she will be living.
“Because we didn’t have renters insurance, we can’t get another apartment unit,” said Tasha Allen, who is Zna’s aunt. “Now, we have to pay for the damage.”
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