WJLA
Reprinted with Permission

HYATTSVILLE, Md. - Prince George's County firefighters pulled a father and daughter from their burning apartment building in Hyattsville Friday morning.

Both were rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

Neighbors noticed the fire just before 9 a.m. They instantly knew that a father and his pre-school age daughter were trapped inside.

After getting their families out, one neighbor tried to go back for the trapped father and daughter, but the smoke and flames proved too intense.

"I opened the door and there was too much fire and dark smoke," said neighbor Hennisson Cole.

Firefighters arrived and charged into the engulfed apartment, finding both victims badly burned.

"They laid the man down there and then they went back in and brought out the girl,"Bertha Bih said. "My heart is hurting me now."

Both the father and the daughter were rushed to Washington Hospital Center's Burn Unit. The father suffered burns over 80 percent of his body. The girl suffered burns to her respiratory track. Both remain in critical condition.

Firefighters were able to put out the blaze. The high winds were not a factor, fire officials said. The cause remains under investigation.

Fire department spokesperson Tyrone Forby says crews were called to the two-alarm blaze in the 3200 block of Toledo Place about 8:50 a.m.