The fire broke out at a multi-family home on Van Cortland Park Avenue just after 2 a.m.
It began on the first floor, but the second floor, where Danielle Doughtry and her three children had been sleeping, was filled with smoke. And she wasn't about to wait.
"These are my kids, I've got to protect my kids," said Doughtry. "The smoke, I couldn't see, I had to jump out the window, I had to throw my babies out the window."
Danielle threw her 3-year old twins, a boy and a girl, into the waiting arms of a family member.
Danielle and her 13-year old daughter jumped on their own. The teenage girl struck her head on the sidewalk and broke both her ankles. She is in serious but stable condition at Jacobi Hospital.
A neighbor also lent a hand in saving the family. "The daughter didn't want to jump," said neighbor Levar Murell. "She fell very hard."
Two firefighters were also hospitalized with non life-threatening injuries.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but authorities are calling it suspicious.
