A 12-year-old girl’s quick action in an emergency may have saved lives.

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Flames broke out in the 2700 block of Lorring Drive near Forestville and District Heights Thursday afternoon. The flames on the second floor leap into the stairwell, trapping people on the floor above.

Twelve-year-old Chyna Livingston spotted them on her way to a friend’s house.

“They were just saying ‘can you please help me, somebody please,’” she recalled.

Livingston immediately dialed 911, telling the operator “somebody is stuck on their balcony, they have a baby with them and they cannot get out.”

While smoke filled the building, the women trapped on the third floor balcony were close to jumping. With the help of the 911 operator, Livingston calmed and reassured them.

“I was just telling everybody do not go into the building try to put the fire out or bring anything out or go back into the building,” she said.

“It was so lonely we were up there for so long, we were like ‘where is the fire department?’ But she let us know that they were on their way,” said Nneka Elemihe, who was trapped in the building.

Livingston stayed until firefighters arrived and got a ladder to Elemihe, her child and mother. When everyone was save, Livingston enthusiastically called her mother.

“When I got the call and she told me I just saved three lives and I am so proud and so happy and I was so proud and so happy,” said Ebony Livingston.

Elemihe is glad to have such a calm young neighbor. “I am very thankful to her very much,” she said.

The fire displaced several people, but no one got hurt.