The fire broke out just after 2 a.m. on North Macquesten Parkway.
Roughly a dozen of Mount Vernon's finest jumped into action to save the tenants inside the three-story home.
Officers arrived and saw a woman and child trapped on the second floor and screaming for help.
Natalie Jimenez put her full faith into the officers who pleaded with her to drop her 3-year-old daughter into their arms.
"It took all of me to be able to trust this person with my daughter and her being so small and we are up so high, that all I could think about is if this goes wrong, that is it," Jimenez said.
First responders rescued Jimenez and at least three other people who were trapped inside the home.
A shirtless tenant captured on video has been identified as Jimenez's cousin, Anthony Oquendo. The 35-year-old lives on the second floor and on Monday family members called him a hero.
"I was really panicked to the point that I didn't notice how I bruised my legs, how I got cuts and bruises because I just wanted to make sure everybody got out of the house," Oquendo said."My friend's daughter was screaming and crying and that's what really got me going."
It's still unclear what sparked the raging fire, but what is clear is where and when the flames broke out.
Neighbor Barry Crumbley saw the initial glow of the fire at 2:18 a.m. and by the time he recorded video at 2:30 a.m., he called 911 and broke out his garden hose to help.
"When I came out and that's when I said...when I saw that it didn't even make sense for me to get the fire extinguisher, let me just do the water thing," Crumbley said.
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