PHOENIX — ABC15 has learned more about the heroic actions that several neighbors took in an effort to try to save a woman and her child who eventually both died in an apartment fire near 7th Avenue and Bell Road.
"I saw a fire extinguisher on the floor, so I just used whatever was in there in front of the door, but it was just too much smoke and too much, like, heat," said an anonymous neighbor who came to help.
The neighbor, who wishes to remain anonymous, was seen in a ring doorbell video walking out of his third-floor apartment and realizing the extent of the situation.
"She just kept saying, like, 'my baby, my baby,'" said an anonymous neighbor.
When he got downstairs, he says two people were carrying 37-year-old Ashley Sutter off her first-floor balcony, while he and someone else tried reaching her three-year-old son, Maximus, through a side window.
"I just went like this, and I just kicked it. I wasn't even really thinking. Yeah, I just kicked it and, like, smoke came out, like, it was real hot," said an anonymous neighbor.
He found out later he had cut his leg open with glass and had to be taken to the hospital. Although that neighbor wishes he could have done more, he says he is proud that so many people came together, risking their lives, to help.
"Everybody was helping; everybody did what they could. There was like two people trying to kick in the door. There was people, like, helping the girl. There was people with fire extinguishers coming from other, other buildings," he added.
While the fire may be out, more problems continue to persist. Neighbors told ABC15 they had to be transferred to another unit due to the damage to the impacted building.
The injured neighbor ABC15 spoke with says he is hoping they can be transferred as well in order to keep his six-month-old safe. He says his unit is unbearable and they've been staying with family in the meantime.
The apartment complex did not provide a timeline for repairs.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
