Harrowing video footage is going viral this week showing the moment a mother from Des Moines, Iowa threw her three children out of the third floor window of her burning apartment complex as police officers waited to catch them.

Firefighters were called at 3:15am to respond to reports of a fire at the building. When Officers Cole Johnson, Craig Vasquez, Tyler Kelley and Casey Sanders arrived on the scene, they saw Osheana Harrison screaming from a third floor window.

The officers positioned themselves below the window before a sobbing Harrison threw her three children out to them.

“Get them by the window,” Johnson can be heard yelling in the body camera footage. “Send them down. Drop him. Drop him. Keep going. Stay right here. I got them. Go. Go.

Thankfully, each of the children made it out safely. Once they were out of harm’s way, firefighters got a ladder so that they could rescue Harrison.

“We got to get a ladder, quick” Johnson exclaimed. “Someone dropped. We got the kids. Hurry.”

“We got you. We got you,” Sanders said, comforting the terrified children. “Are you scared, babies? It’s OK. They’re getting your mom out right now.”

Firefighters managed to get the fire contained and to get everyone out of the building safely, including Harrison.

“Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart because I don’t know what I would do without my babies,” the mother said afterwards.

Harrison added that her family had only lived in the apartment for two weeks, and that she is not sure why she woke up that night, as the smoke detectors did not go off.

“My aunt says I have an angel watching over me,” Harrison said. “I don’t know what woke me up, but thank God I did.”

Watch the rescue for yourself in the video below.