Grab the baby and run: Tenant afraid to return to unit after deadly apartment fire [Video]

A Hamilton mother says she is too afraid to return to her apartment after a deadly fire broke out at Eastwood Apartments on Sunday morning, leaving two children and one adult dead.

The three-alarm blaze started at around 10 a.m. in a second-floor unit of the building, according to the Hamilton Fire Department. Flames and thick smoke quickly spread, forcing firefighters to make multiple rescues.

Fiza Edroos, a first-time mother to a one-year-old daughter, says she thought she and her family might not make it out alive.

“I was panicking,” Edroos said. “I told my husband, ‘You grab the baby and run.’ The only thing on my mind was that we had 12 storeys to get down.”

Edroos described the terrifying moments when she lost sight of her husband and baby as she tried to help a senior resident put on her shoes and coat. “I didn’t know where they were for a good 30 to 40 minutes. I …