Firefighters Fall Through Burning Floor In Harrowing Rescue

GLENDALE, CA — Several residents including a baby escaped through windows and two firefighters fell through a burning floor during a harrowing rescue effort at a Glendale apartment fire Thursday afternoon. In all, six people were hurt in the blaze, but none of them suffered life-threatening injuries.

Firefighters arrived on the scene of a a two-story Glendale apartment building at about 2:40 p.m. Thursday to find the building engulfed in flames. Initial calls indicated some residents were trapped inside the building and had to be pulled out of the windows to escape the inferno in the 100 block of 140 Carr Drive.

The dramatic rescue involved tense moments when two firefighters fell through the first floor of the building, tumbling into the burning, smoke-filled basement below. A mayday call was issued and crews worked frantically to pull the two firefighters to safety. Somehow, they suffered only minor injuries, but both were taken to a hospital to be evaluated.

Fire Chief Silvio Lanzas told NBC4 at the scene three of those patients were taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation and the other three declined a trip to a hospital.

An hour into the firefight, crews reported that while much of the open flame appeared to have been knocked down, the fire was still burning inside the wall on one side the of building, threatening the integrity of the structure.

There was no immediate word on what sparked the blaze or how many people live in the building.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.