A dramatic video has been released of firefighters rescuing three unconscious children from a fiery apartment in California.
The startling footage was released by the Fresno Fire Department who were called to the burning apartment after reports of smoke, but then on arrival discovered that three children were still inside.
Neighbor Crystal Rodriguez said she heard an explosion that sounded like a homemade firework and then a woman screaming.
The clip at the bottom of the page shows the brave firefighters desperately trying to find a one-year-old boy and two girls aged three and four, while the building fills with deadly black smoke which billows out from the vents and pipes.
Ms Rodriguez told Fresnobee: "Nobody thought there would be three little babies inside."
She said another neighbor told her the children's mother, who was returning home from the shops, broke a window to try and get the children out when she saw her apartment was on fire.
That's when the firefighters arrived.
The video shows the firefighters struggle through the apartment which is shrouded in black smoke.
Glass can be heard smashing as they frantically search for the children, but the courageous fire crew find all three kids within four minutes of arriving.
One firefighter had managed to get to one of the bedrooms and handed the youngest baby through a broken window to another firefighter before bundling a second child through to the same firefighter.
Rodriguez said: "I thought they were dead. They were just limp."
Thankfully, they survived and were conscious on Monday afternoon after suffering from smoke inhalation, while the three-year-old girl had a minor burn on her hand.
The children’s mother is co-operating with a police investigation into why the children were left alone.
The children are currently in the care of Child Protective Services and cannot be released back to the mother until the investigation is complete.
The Fresno Fire Department said on Tuesday that the fire was caused by an electrical fault in the television.
Agapito Martinez, public information officer for the department told ABC News: "The firefighters would say it's just their job. But to get a rescue of this magnitude is something we really don't come across every day."
Well done to everyone involved in the rescue!
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