WASHINGTON — A D.C. grandmother who rushed back into a burning home to save her grandson is finally out of the Intensive Care Unit.
"I am blessed, I am truly blessed," Edwina Caviness-Bey said by phone from her hospital bed.
Caviness-Bey suffered second-degree burns after her Madison Street home caught fire on the morning of Jan. 5.
"There were a whole lot of heroes that day," she said. "You know, God put everybody in the right place that was supposed to be there."
Caviness-Bey said she's a heavy sleeper, but the smoke detector woke her up, and that's when she began running through her Northeast D.C. house to make sure the rest of her family got out.
In a race against the rapidly spreading flames, Caviness-Bey ran back upstairs to get her grandkids.
"Before the flames got that bad, I was upstairs, but I couldn't come back downstairs," she said. "The smoke was too heavy, and it got too dark for me and Quinten to go through and I was scared at that point."
She remembers throwing her grandson out the window to her son, who was urging her to jump.
"I remember hearing my son say, 'come on mom, jump, but I'm scared of heights," she said.
Caviness-Bey said she is grateful for the people who came to her family’s rescue that day and those who have helped in the days following.
"Time is a precious gift," she said. "That means you're giving part of something you can't get back."
Firefighters believe an overheated surge protector near furniture ignited the blaze.
Neighbors held a donation drive last week to help her family recover some of the items lost in the fire, from school supplies to toiletries. A GoFundMe page was also established.
