Anne Arundel Police Officer Franklin Bilbrey said he couldn?t help the 6-month-old baby inside a flaming Randallstown apartment.
“The people upstairs came running downstairs screaming that the baby was still inside,” said Bilbrey, 40, who recounted the chaos when a fire ripped through two adjacent apartment buildings about 1:30 a.m. Monday, displacing about 30 people at the St. Charles at Olde Court apartments on Stockmill Road.
“We tried to go in the apartment, but it was so engulfed in flames … we knew we couldn?t even attempt to go in.”
The baby, Malik Michael Hasan, was dead when firefighters found him after 6 a.m. in a third-floor apartment, according to the Baltimore County fire department.
Bilbrey said he awoke to a fire alarm and saw from his balcony that his neighbor?s kitchen on the third floor was on fire.
He and his wife Jalayne, 42, banged on their neighbors? doors to wake them.
If no one answered, Bilbrey kicked in their doors. He resorted to climbing one woman?s balcony and shattering her sliding glass door before carrying her to safety.
“Now we?ll just have to piece things back together and go from there,” Bilbrey said as shopped Monday afternoon at Wal-Mart to replace his family?s clothes.
Residents camped out in the leasing office Monday, awaiting permission to return to their apartments and gather what was left of their belongings.
Carrie Maple, 61, borrowed her neighbor?s coat to wear over her nightgown. She had returned to her apartment.
“It was horrible ? nothing but black ceilings and walls,” she said.
American Red Cross volunteers carried in bottles of water and ordered pizza for the displaced residents, some still barefoot and dressed in nightgowns.
Jordan Bailey, 6, and her mother Shervon Branch, 27, were rescued when a firefighter barged into their bedrooms.
“He didn?t even ring our bell, he just came in and grabbed me,” Bailey said.
“My mommy was crying… I was a lot scared.”
Many victims stayed with family or friends, and others said they were offered two days of temporary housing by the Red Cross.
Rhonda Brockington, 35, was crying as she spoke to her insurance company on the phone. Brockington, who is pregnant, said the leasing office told her they would not provide temporary housing for her and her 12-year-old daughter.
“We have to get temporary living from our renter?s insurance and if you don?t have it, you?re homeless after two days,” she said.
“We pay over $500 a month and this is the treatment they give us.
A leasing office employee said he was “trying to work things out,” but declined further comment.
