WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. --
A Saturday afternoon apartment fire nearly turned deadly in West Palm Beach, but then a teenage neighbor saved the day.
It happened on Caribbean Road in West Palm Beach at the Saddlebrook apartments.
Nicole Ponder and her two children along with her mother said they hid in a utility closet because they couldn't get out in time.
That's when 19-year-old Gary Jackson climbed through a second floor window, found them and pulled them out.
"He's telling us, 'You got to come with us, the building's on fire,'" Ponder said. "He even took off his shirt and wrapped it around my baby's face to make sure there was no smoke inhalation."
"It's really good because it saved us from having some dead kids," said West Palm Beach Fire Rescue Capt. Kevin Lewis. "They did a really good job."
It took several hours for firefighters to put out the blaze.
Eight people were hospitalized and the fire displaced five families.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
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