Family escapes apartment fire through window

— -- Firefighters rescued a mother and her children from the window of a burning apartment early this morning in Houston, Texas, according to ABC News Houston station KTRK. The residents were saved from a second-floor window as the three-alarm fire quickly spread.

"We went to the closet to get clothes and shoes. We [saw] the smoke collapsing in the roof inside the apartment. I just grabbed my kids and went," resident Margaret Williams told KTRK.

Dramatic video shows Williams and her children being brought down a ladder as flames burst through the building behind them.

Sixteen apartment units were destroyed, and the cause of the fire is unknown at this time, according to KTRK.

The Houston Fire Department has not yet responded to ABC News' request for more information.