An 8-year-old girl jumped six stories from her balcony after an apartment in New York City became engulfed in flames, officials said Thursday.
The young girl broke both her legs, but is expected to survive, according to the New York City Fire Department, NBC New York reported.
The fire broke out Wednesday around 6 p.m. ET in the 500 block of 169th Street in the Bronx, the FDNY said. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the blaze, but it took more than 100 firefighters to put it out.
Seven firefighters and one other person suffered minor injuries, the FDNY said.
Video showed a thick column of black smoke coming from the sixth-floor apartment.
When the smoke became too overwhelming, the girl leaped from her balcony — at least a 60-foot drop to the ground, NBC New York reported.
Linda Kemp, the girl's neighbor, told the news station that she and nearby residents huddled around the girl to keep her calm.
"I held her down so she wouldn't move, to try to keep her from moving her neck and her body parts," Kemp said. "First she didn't understand why we were holding her down. She was like, 'Let me go, let me go.' I had to explain to her that I couldn't."
The girl survived the fall, but she was critically injured and taken to the hospital, FDNY Deputy Chief Anthony Montera said. The name of the girl was not immediately released by authorities.
After fire officials extinguished the blaze, residents who had to be evacuated were allowed to return to the apartment building, NBC New York reported.
