UPDATED AT 8:27 A.M.
TACOMA -- A Puyallup mother who left her toddler alone Wednesday afternoon while she went to get something to eat could face criminal charges after their apartment caught fire and crews had to rescue the 22-month-old boy.
Puyallup police arrested the woman on suspicion of second-degree child endangerment, then released her. She was reunited with her son.
The woman, 23, told officers her son was asleep Wednesday afternoon and she had no food in their apartment in the 200 block of 21st Avenue Southwest.
"She decided to run up to Arby's really quick to get food for her and the baby," Puyallup police spokeswoman Lorri Ericson said Thursday. "She believed she was gone for 15 minutes."
When she returned, her third-story apartment was on fire and her son was trapped.
Firefighters were called shortly before 4:30 p.m. The callers told fire dispatchers they thought a child might be trapped in the fire.
Firefighters found flames and heavy smoke coming from the roof of the apartment. They forced their way inside, heard a child screaming and rescued the boy from a back bedroom, police reported. The boy was conscious and alert when he was taken away from the scene by ambulance.
The mother was outside, yelling, "My baby is in there," Ericson said.
Fire crews got the blaze under control at 4:52 p.m. Ten residents from six apartment units were displaced and given rooms at a Puyallup hotel.
The boy was taken to a local hospital for an evaluation and possible treatment. His mother was arrested because she had left her son alone in the apartment, Ericson said. The case will be forwarded to Pierce County prosecutors for possible charges.
The mother had no history with Child Protective Services, the state agency that handles child welfare matters, and her son was returned to her care, Ericson said.
"She made a bad choice and it ended in pretty bad consequences," she said.
The lesson for parents from Wednesday's fire is simple.
"It might seem like only 10 to 15 minutes, but look what happened," she said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.