Secaucus Fire: See Video Of Boy, 4, Caught Outside Window

SECAUCUS, NJ — Secaucus parents made a split-second decision to throw their toddler son, age 4, out the window when a fire broke out in the Chateau Gardens apartment complex Wednesday evening.

The boy was caught by three Secaucus police officers and "was laughing" the whole time, his mother, Maxine O., said. "He got a high five from police when they caught him. He said he had fun jumping out the window."

The fire broke out in a first-floor apartment at approximately 7:28 p.m. Wednesday in the Chateau Gardens apartment complex off Rt. 3, at 2 Radio Avenue.

When the first responding police officer, Secaucus patrolman Nicholas Spangenberg, entered the apartment building, he was immediately met with "a substantial amount of smoke" filling the hallway. He forced entry into the first-floor apartment, which was on fire, and found a 56-year-old woman lying unconscious on the floor.

Spangenberg, patrolman Jason Mitchell and Detective Aniello Schaffer carried the woman to safety and gave her first aid. She had suffered second- and third-degree burns over various parts of her body, said police. She remains in critical, but stable condition at Saint Barnabas Hospital.

Video from Secaucus police:

"It was between seven and eight o'clock at night and we were just winding down for the day," said Maxine O. "That's when the smoke alarms started going off and my neighbor started ringing our bell non-stop, telling us there was a fire."

Maxine and her husband and their toddler son live on the second floor, in the apartment directly above the unit where the fire started.

"We opened the door and the hallway was already filled with thick, black smoke," she said. "We had no idea where the fire was coming from and we weren't going to take a chance by running down the hallway with the baby."

Alarmingly, their unit also does not have a fire escape, she discovered.

She said Secaucus police officers were already outside their window, and were telling the couple to wait inside, that firefighters were on their way.

"But our apartment was actually filling with smoke. When we told them we had the toddler, the police said throw him down, throw him down,'" said Maxine. "My husband reached as far as he could out the window and two to three officers caught him."

Maxine estimated the window is fifteen to twenty feet off the ground.

"I actually turned away when he dropped him; I couldn't see it!," said Maxine.

It was Detective Matthew Ford, in plainclothes, and police officers Stephen Hurtuk and Matthew Garzone who caught the baby.

“At a time when some of the public sentiment surrounding police officers is negative, I think it is important to highlight the heroic actions of these officers,” Secaucus Chief Dennis Miller said. “Every day, our officers put their own lives and safety on the line to help and save others while serving this community. We are grateful for their heroism yesterday and every day and I couldn’t be prouder.”

Knowing her baby was safe, she and her husband waited in the apartment until Secaucus' volunteer firefighters got the fire under control. It was scary to wait there, she said, as the apartment continued to fill with smoke; it was coming in from the heating vents, she said.

"I think we were both contemplating jumping out the window at one point," she said. "There was just nowhere for us to go."

Maxine said she is "extremely grateful" for the Secaucus police officers and fire department.

"I am so grateful that things went the way they did and I cannot believe how fast the police got there; they were outside before we even knew the building was on fire," she said. "You never think something like this is going to happen to you until it does."

At this time, the fire is not deemed suspicious, but remains under investigation by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Regional Office Arson Task Force, the Secaucus Police Detective Division and the Secaucus Bureau of Fire Prevention. Its cause has not been released.