How a 92-year-old survived a 3-alarm fire

A 92-year-old survivor who was determined to escape a 3-alarm fire at a senior apartment complex near San Antonio, Texas is sharing her story.

"I just said, 'Lord help us!'" resident Edelmira Saldana said.

Saldana was in her 10th floor apartment and said she never heard an alarm, reports CBS News correspondent Vicente Arenas. Thick smoke woke her up. A few minutes later, she couldn't breathe.

"I put my nose on the edge of the window, and I found a tiny crack. And I put my nose in there, and I could feel that my throat was clearing," Saldana said.

That was her breath of fresh air.

Saldana packed up her medicine, gathered her walker and stayed on the phone with her son. Firefighters tried to carry her to the balcony, out to the escape ladder, but Saldana said she would walk.

"They said, 'We are holding the ladder!' I said, 'I know you are, but I want to hold onto it myself!'" Saldana said.

The fire gutted the third floor, killing five people and injuring 10 others. One-hundred-fifty firefighters responded to the 11-story apartment building shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday. They broke windows and used ladders to evacuate residents as smoke billowed from the building. Two-hundred-sixteen people live in the senior living complex in the San Antonio suburb of Castle Hills.

"We are very fortunate that we're not standing in front of you talking about a greater loss of life," San Antonio Fire Department chief Charles Hood said.

It was a chilly 39 degrees when residents escaped with very few clothes and were taken to a temporary shelter. Saldana is staying with her son.

"I feel this is a second chance at life," Saldana said.