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OTTAWA - A mother could be heard screaming for someone to save her baby as a fire roared outside her apartment door Tuesday night trapping both inside.
It's believed someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the door of apartment 22 inside the four-storey building at about 10 p.m.
"She was screaming 'save my baby, save my baby. How could someone do this?' She was hysterical," said a fellow tenant describing hearing the mother yelling near a window holding her child as smoke began filling the apartment.
The woman has been identified by neighbours as Ashley Douglas who say she was holding her eight-month-old son Logan. Also, in the apartment was Cory Wilson, the boy's father.
Firefighters rushed to save the family of three and encountered thick smoke when they reached the fourth floor. They had to rub their hands against the wall to make their way down the hall to apartment 22 because the smoke was so thick.
Firefighters did rescue the residents and paramedics treated them.
They were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation. All were later released said police.
Ottawa Fire Services spokesman Marc Messier said about 30 people were displaced from their homes during the fire. About 18 are not expected to be able to return to their home for a couple days.
Firefighters had to kick a few doors in when doing a complete search of the scene on the fourth floor and as a result smoke damaged up to six units, said Messier.
The investigation has been turned over to the Ottawa police arson squad who have a working theory the fire was deliberately set.
An unused Molotov cocktail was found a week earlier in the building and is being investigated as a possible connection to Tuesday's fire that caused an estimated $35,000 in damage.
The walls were still blackened from smoke Wednesday and someone fingered on the wall "Don't Worry."
A light fixture above the targeted unit was deformed from the heat. The paint around the door was scorched and peeling off.
The building has a lot of problems said one resident who lives across the hall of the unit.
Mike Descaire said there is a lot of drugs in the building, along with prostitution.
The fire was the last straw for some who decided Wednesday to move out.
"The guy next door to me has packed all his stuff and has moved out," said Descaire.
Kenneth.jackson@sunmedia.ca