Several neighbors sprang into action to rescue a mother and her two children from the second floor of their two-story Middle River home as flames flared beneath the family.

Black smoke billowed from the home in the 400 block of Kosoak Road and an orange inferno glowed from the front window around 7 a.m. Tuesday. In flip-flops, a T-shirt and khakis, one neighbor rushed across the street to assist, as captured on his home’s doorbell camera . He and others moved expeditiously.

“Drop them,” neighbors urged the mother, “just let go.”

Video footage shows one neighbor catching both of the kids after they were dropped from the second-floor window while others brought ladders to help the mom escape.

Crying, screaming and shouting rippled through the Middle River neighborhood as just under 10 people gathered to rescue the woman from the blaze that broke out in her home.

The mother and her two children were transported to a hospital with minor injuries, Baltimore County Fire officials said in a news release, but their dog did not survive.

Still, Baltimore County Fire Chief Joseph Dixon thanked neighbors for responding before first responders even made it to the scene, applauding their ”courage and selflessness.”

“This incident is a powerful reminder of the strength of our communities,” Dixon said. “Before our fire and EMS crews arrived, neighbors acted without hesitation to help a mother and her children escape a dangerous situation.”

The family’s survival with the help of their neighbors comes just days after a Parkville woman died in a blaze that overtook her home basement, the first fire fatality of the year.

Last month, a 67-year-old Randallstown man and his two dogs died in a home fire. The decedent, Herbert B. Thomas Jr., initially escaped, but died after he returned for his pets.