Salisbury Mom says her baby saved their family from apartment fire

SALISBURY, Md. – A Salisbury family is picking up the pieces after they lost their apartment to an early morning fire Friday. However, they say it could have been a lot worse had it not been for an unlikely hero.

“My little man he was the one crying all loud and stuff like that,” said Jessica Buie,”I woke my husband up and slapped him I slapped him and said hey we got to get out who says her one-year-old Melo is the reason she and her family are alive.”

Buie says a fire broke out in her first-floor apartment in the 600 block of Fitzwater St. shortly after 1 am Friday when she, her husband and her other son were asleep. Had it not been for her baby Melo crying, she believes she wouldn’t have woken up.

“Yes, the baby saved the day,” Buie said.

Salisbury Fire officials say a Salisbury police officer spotted the house fire and called it in. Crews responded quickly and were able to contain the blaze to the one apartment building. They say the tenants that live on the second floor weren’t home at the time of the fire.

The bad news is the apartment building appears to be a total loss.

“The unit that’s involved yes they’re going to have to gut the unit and rebuild,” said Asst. Chief Rob Frampton with the Salisbury Fire Department.

To make matters worse, Buie tells 47 ABC that they didn’t have renters insurance. However, those in the community are already stepping up to help. CEO of Truu Kings Entertainment, Dale King, said he will be posting on his Facebook a list of things the family needs.

“I’m going to post the shoe sizes, the pampers for the one-year-old. Just anything that we could do to help. You know we got to come together as a community, it takes a village sometimes and I know this was unexpected for them,” King said.

As of Friday morning, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.