Helmet cam footage captures terrifying rescue from burning California apartment

Three toddlers were found unconscious inside the flat

One of the children is rescued from the apartment

A fire fighter has captured extraordinary footage of the moment he rescued a child from a burning apartment in Fresno, California.

In the helmet cam video, the fire officer enters the pitch black hallway of the building on the Westgate Garden Apartments complex. Plumes of thick smoke pour out of the open door and windows as he goes in.

For most of the video the man is engulfed in darkness as he tries to navigate his way through the apartment and find the three toddlers aged one, two and three-years-old, who are still inside.

After struggling around in darkness as the fire rages on, he manages to locate one of them and quickly takes the toddler to a waiting ambulance.

All of the children were eventually rescued. They were found covered in soot and unconscious from smoke inhalation. The three toddlers were taken to hospital where they are in a critical condition.

"The mother had given us a general direction of where the kids were to be located. It's zero visibility inside the building so we're kind of using, we're feeling down the wall trying to recognise objects," Fresno Fire Captain Christian Palmer told ABC7.

Dozens of fire fighters helped to tackle the small blaze on Sunday afternoon, which damaged two apartments. It is believed that the fire started in the living room of one of the flats.

The parents of the three children were inside the apartment at the time the fire broke out but it is not yet clear if the toddlers were with them. The mother is now being investigated by the police.