Resident Hurt After Leaping From Burning West Hartford Building: WHFD

WEST HARTFORD, CT — A resident was taken to the hospital Wednesday afternoon after leaping from a second-floor window of a burning residence on Elmhurst Street.

According to the West Hartford Fire Department, the person at the time was the lone occupant of the multi-family building that caught fire and was taken to an area hospital with "non-life-threatening injuries."

The WHFD said at about 4:25 p.m. Wednesday, local dispatchers were notified of a kitchen fire inside a multi-family residence on Elmhurst Street.

Before arrival at 4:29 p.m., firefighters were notified of a person jumping from a window.

The injured person was found outside the burning building, the WHFD reported, and they also learned no one else was inside the residence at the time of the fire.

By 4:36 p.m., the WHFD said, the blaze was out and the investigation into the cause began.

Firefighters were able to attack the blaze from the interior with two hose lines and a subsequent search confirmed no other occupants, firefighters said.

The duplex-style building suffered significant smoke and fire damage on one side, deeming the unit "likely uninhabitable," the WHFD wrote.

But the adjacent unit is "apparently unaffected" and will be able to be occupied, the WHFD said.

Fire officials said the local Red Cross chapter is aiding the occupants of the residence damaged by the fire.

University of Connecticut, New Britain, and Hartford fire departments and an AMR ambulance were on standby covering West Hartford while WHFD units battled the blaze.

"We are very appreciative to our mutual aid departments and other emergency responder organizations who assisted," said WHFD Chief Greg Priest.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the West Hartford Fire Marshal's office.