DALLAS — It was waking up to the worst nightmare: A building at Meadows on Ferguson in Northeast Dallas was in flames Wednesday morning. 
 
 A mother and father saw their apartment was filled with smoke. The halls of the building were already engulfed in flames, so the dad punched the bedroom window to escape. Under them, a young man was ready to help. 
 
 The parents were left with no choice but to drop their 1-year-old baby, Kirsten, out the bedroom window. 
 
 A stranger, Byron Campbell, was standing there with his arms out, convincing the mother to let go. 
 
 “She trusted me and she dropped the baby and I caught the baby,” he said. 
 
 "I just told the mom I wouldn't drop the baby. Then she let go and I caught it. I held on like a football and didn't let go," Campbell said. 
 
 “It was terrifying,” said Shuntara Thomas in tears, “I didn’t know if I was going to come down with her or if that would be the last time that I was holding my child.” 
 
 Five other people, including Shuntara, also had to jump out third-floor windows. Neighbors and Dallas police officers worked together to find mattresses that could cushion the fall. They stood beneath and supported each person as they jumped. 
 
 Baby Kirsten is doing well. Her dad, Patrick, got 22 stitches. Shuntara has scrapes and bumps. Their wounds remind them of the heroes who saved their lives. 
 
 “I have my child because of him," Shuntara said. "She gets to live another day because of him.” 
 
 A total of three people were injured, including a firefighter who suffered burns. They were all expected to be okay. 
 
 More than 40 people were displaced by the fire, which started shortly after 7 a.m. 
 
 Sargent Mike Mata with Dallas Police says he has no doubts people would have died if it weren't for the quick actions of the young men. 
 
 This is the young man who caught a baby as it dropped three stories up from a burning apartment, Byron Campbell made the catch of his life! This man is a hero!!! pic.twitter.com/G8nwyeq6zM — Hannah VanHuss Davis (@hannahdinhd) November 21, 2018 
 
 "They worked alongside our officers and they're heroes...they stepped up and they saved lives," Mata said. 
 
 Other neighbors helped as well. Jerrell Worthy had just moved to the apartments and offered up her brand new mattress for the young men to use. 
 
 "I don't care if it's brand new I want to save someone's life," Worthy said. 
 
 Wednesday evening, Dallas Police released body camera footage from officers who arrived on the scene before firefighters did. 
 
 That footage shows officers kicking down and banging on apartment doors--telling people to get out. 
 
 It also shows officers sticking around, treating the wounds of some residents who were injured and offering support. 
 
 Fire officials say they're still investigating what caused the fire to start. Red Cross arrived shortly after and is assisting displaced residents. 
 
 © 2018 WFAA ||||| From three stories up, six people leapt onto mattresses held by good Samaritans and dropped a baby to rescuers to escape a massive apartment fire in Dallas Wednesday morning. (Published Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018) 
 
 From three stories up, six people leapt onto mattresses held by good Samaritans and dropped a baby to rescuers on the ground to escape a massive apartment fire in Dallas Wednesday morning. 
 
 “I didn’t want my daughter to lose her life, he (good samaritan) told me just trust me I got her, I got her, so without even thinking I just dropped her," Shuntara Thomas, who dropped her 1-year-old daughter to safety said. 
 
 Residents of the Meadows at Ferguson apartments on the 11700 block of Ferguson Road were awoken at about 7 a.m. to police officers and other rescuers banging on doors alerting them to the fire. 
 
 Dallas police officers were the first to arrive at the scene after spotting smoke billowing from the building, according to Jason Evans, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman. Evans credited police for going door-to-door, alerting residents to escape while others dragged mattresses from homes to serve as improvised landing pads for people trapped and willing to jump to safety. Dallas Police released video from one of the officer's body camera on Wednesday afternoon, showing the officers rushing to get everyone to safety. 
 
 Police Officer's Body Cam Shows Dramatic Scene at Apartment Fire 
 
 Video from a Dallas police officer's body camera shows the dramatic scene as they arrive at an apartment fire in the 11700 block of Ferguson Road on Wednesday morning. (Published Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018) 
 
 Witnesses on scene also caught the dramatic scene on cell phone video as the flames poured from the third floor apartment. 
 
 Residents Jump from Dallas Apartment Fire 
 
 Six residents of a Northeast Dallas apartment complex, including a baby, leapt from their third-floor windows Wednesday morning to escape a massive fire that devoured two dozen residences and left three people injured, including a firefighter, authorities say. (Published Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018) 
 
 Apt. Fire Displaces 40, Mattresses Used to Catch Victims 
 
 Darren Hicks and Byron Campbell joined others in rescuing people trapped in a burning apartment building Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. (Published Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018) 
 
 "Everybody held the mattresses on both sides and we told everybody just aim for the mattresses," said Darren Hicks, a man visiting friends at the apartment complex who helped rescue people trapped by the fire. 
 
 Six people, including a baby who had to be caught, jumped from the third-floor to mattresses on the ground below, firefighters said. 
 
 "I seen a lady, she yelled out the window she was about to drop the baby. So, my first reaction, was go by the window and catch the baby. When she dropped the baby I caught the baby and curled him up in my hands," said rescuer Byron Campbell, who was with Hicks visiting friends at the apartment complex. 
 
 Hicks and Campbell told NBC 5 they rushed to help to prevent a worse ending to a story where people were obviously losing everything -- they didn't want it to be any worse so close to Thanksgiving. 
 
 Residents Leap to Escape Massive Fire; Firefighter Burned 
 
 From three stories up, six people leapt onto mattresses held by good Samaritans and dropped a baby to rescuers to escape a massive apartment fire in Dallas Wednesday morning. (Published Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018) 
 
 Man Describes Catching Baby Tossed From Third-Floor Apartment Fire 
 
 Byron Campbell talks about catching a baby dropped from a third-floor window while residents escaped a growing fire. Nearly two dozen residences were damaged and three people were injured, including a firefighter, authorities say. (Published Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018) 
 
 The massive fire devoured two dozen residences, 18 of which were occupied, and left three people injured, including a firefighter who suffered second-degree burns to his shoulder and arm, authorities said. The two injured residents were transported to hospitals with injuries not considered life-threatening. All are expected to be OK. 
 
 The building was severely damaged by the fire and DFR said investigators were not able to enter it to determine what sparked the blaze. The building was demolished later in the morning. 
 
 Apartment Building Demolished After Early-Morning Fire 
 
 An apartment building in Dallas is torn down after a fire devoured the structure to the point it was unstable. (Published Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018) 
 
 DFR said firefighters attacked the fire quickly but were soon forced into a defensive posture. Firefighters were able to contain the fire to the one building and had the fire under control by 8 a.m. Video from Texas Sky Ranger showed flames shooting through the roof as firefighters surrounded the 3-story building. 
 
 The American Red Cross is assisting 40 people made temporarily homeless by the fire by providing them with comfort kits and disaster assisstance. 
 
 The Red Cross said all of the people impacted by the fire were moved to vacant residences in the community. Anyone else impacted by the fire is asked to call 1-800-RED-CROSS for help. 
 
 Check back and refresh this page for the latest update. As this story is developing, elements may change. NBC 5's Tim Ciesco, Courtney Gilmore, Jack Highberger and Frank Heinz contributed to this report. 
 
 Raw Video: Firefighters Take on Huge Fire in NE Dallas ||||| Update, 9 a.m. Thursday.: This story was revised with additional detail throughout. 
 
 Some were shaking with anger. Others dissolved into tears. A few were blank-faced with shock. But at least everyone — including a baby safely dropped out of a window into the waiting arms of a good Samaritan — was still alive after the brutal early morning fire Wednesday at a northeast Dallas apartment complex. 
 
 For the baby’s mother and 40 or so other residents of the Meadows at Ferguson apartments — which has been locked in litigation with the city over public safety concerns — Thanksgiving won’t be anything like they had planned. By midafternoon Wednesday, their former homes were ruled structurally unsafe and had been bulldozed, and their belongings were mixed in the rubble of Building F’s brick and siding. 
 
 But while the residents got the fright of their lives and lost most of their worldly possessions, everyone in those 24 units escaped, thanks to some heroic efforts by police, firefighters and ordinary people. 
 
 Byron Campbell, 21, a passerby, came over to help and caught the baby. Another man beat furiously on doors, rousting sleeping residents. Those on the first floor dragged mattresses outside so third-floor residents could jump to safety.
– Around 40 Dallas residents are homeless for Thanksgiving but thankful to be alive after what the Dallas Morning News describes as a "brutal" fire at an apartment complex. Three people including a firefighter were injured Wednesday, per NBC DFW, though rescuers and residents likely prevented further calamity. They banged on doors around 7am as flames erupted from the upper floor of one of the three-story Meadows at Ferguson apartment buildings in Dallas' northeast. At one point, a 1-year-old girl was dropped out of a window, safely landing in the arms of passerby Byron Campbell. "The young mother was holding her baby and yelling, 'Can somebody catch my baby?'" he tells the Morning News. "I just said, 'Trust me, I'll catch her!'" "I didn't know … if that was going to be the last time I was holding my child," mother Shuntara Thomas tells WFAA. She ended up jumping to safety along with the child's father, who needed 22 stitches after breaking their unit's windows. Three others also jumped, helped by first-floor residents who dragged out mattresses, per NBC DFW. "I had just got that big, thick mattress, but I was glad to get it used that way," says one such resident. He likely has little to his name now. The 24-unit complex was ruled structurally unsafe and turned to rubble, along with most of the residents' belongings, before the day was up. Thomas sees the bright side, however. "My child gets to live another day because of [Campbell]," she says.