CHESAPEAKE – A man visiting a friend went into action to save a mother and child from their burning apartment.

The two-alarm fire caused a lot of damage to a half dozen apartments on Nicholas Court Friday afternoon.

Smoke was still rising from the open windows about 30 minutes after the fire was reported around 3:00 p.m.

Raven Quickley grabbed her six-month old daughter and threw her emergency ladder out the window to escape. That's when Jesse Lewis heard her screams for help.

"My first instinct was to go up the ladder and get the baby, save the baby, and help them get out," Lewis said.

Quick believes he saved her life and that of her daughter and boyfriend.

"This man saved our life because we wouldn't have gotten down because we had a baby in our arms. One of us would have been stuck up there," she said.

Three people were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation.

Investigators say someone smoking while using a home medical oxygen unit sparked the fire.

Eight people have been displaced and six units are uninhabitable.  

> View Larger Map