A dramatic video shows Houston firefighters taking children from a mother on her second-story apartment balcony as flames raged closely behind her. The fire destroyed 16 units in a northwest Harris County apartment complex early Monday.

“We are going to get out, we are going to get out,” the unidentified mother told her children after her daughter asked why there was red light in the room.  The children are aged four, six, and eight, officials said.

The video shows the mother calmly lifting her children, one at a time, over the balcony railing where she handed them to volunteer firefighters with the Klein Volunteer Fire Department, KTRK ABC13 reported. The firemen took the children to safety and then helped the mother escape. Flames could be seen within a few feet of the mother and she focused on rescuing her three children.

As the fire spread, security guard J.R. Crombi alerted other apartment residents of the impending danger. He said he was surprised by how quickly the fire spread, eventually engulfing 16 units.

Another mother told reporters, “I just grabbed my kids and went.”

“My daughter was crying because she trying to get her stuff and I just told her we got to let it go,” Margaret Williams explained. She said the smoke and flames consumed her apartment just as she, her husband and their young daughter escaped with their lives.

There were no reported injuries from the fire and firemen rescued a dog from one of the units. KTRK reported the dog is fine and has been reunited with its family.

Arson investigators with the Klein Volunteer Fire Department are looking into the cause of the fire. No information on its cause has been released.

Volunteers with the American Red Cross quickly arrived and began providing assistance to the 16 newly homeless families.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, Gab, and Facebook.

The headline was updated to clarify that the Klein Volunteer Firefighter Department was responsible for the rescue effort.