A Winnipeg family will recover in hospital for several more weeks after a New Year’s Day fire forced a father, mother and their seven-month old baby to jump out of a second-storey window.

Dzintars Giertmanis and Alena Giertmane are from Eastern Europe and settled in Manitoba in 2012 and 2013.

The couple say before fire broke out, it was supposed to be an ordinary day. Dzintars was talking to his mother on Skype and Alena was with the baby when she suddenly she heard a cracking noise.

The next thing Alena says she saw was her husband trying to stop a fire in their Christmas tree from spreading.

“Literally, in a moment the smoke was huge, and there was more fire and we realized there was no way my husband could put it off by himself,” said Alena.

They tried to escape by the front door of their Colony Street apartment but for some reason the door wouldn’t open.

 “Something happened with the lock, we tried once, twice but the room was filling with smoke so quickly we had to find another way,” she said.

Dzintars went to his second-storey window, opened it, and jumped, the force breaking his leg in multiple places. Still, he managed to stand up, opening his arms to catch his seven-month-old daughter.

“I threw baby to him and he catched her,” said Alena smiling.

Dzintars laid baby Agnese on the snow and started calling for help. Alena jumped next, seriously injured her back and broke her two heels.

Minutes later, the couple says a girl took baby Agnese from the snow, wrapped her up and took her inside to warm up, while the building’s caretaker called 911.

The couple says they were not brave. They say their human instincts kicked it. They are overjoyed their baby was unharmed.

They have no tenants insurance. As immigrants, they say they had no idea it existed.

Alena had back surgery and her feet remain in casts. She is expected to stay in hospital for another eight weeks.

Dzintars will need another four weeks to recover. Baby Agnese is staying with a friend while her parents heal.

The couple says they have received much kindness from staff at Health Sciences Centre and strangers.

Donations for the family can be made at any Carpathia Credit Union branch. The account name is the "Dzintars Giertmanis Family Burn Fund," and the number is 261065.