1 Dead, 5 Injured In Apartment Building Fire In Lansing
CHICAGO (CBS) -- One person was killed and several others were taken to the hospital Monday morning, after a fire swept through an apartment building in south suburban Lansing overnight.
People jumped out of windows to escape the flames, and a neighbor below even caught a baby dropped to safety.
The fire started around 3:15 a.m. at a three-story apartment building on the 3000 block of Bernice Avenue. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy flames coming from multiple floors of the building, according to Lansing Fire Department Deputy Chief John Grady.
Firefighters were able to rescue several people from the building, but Grady said a 49-year-old woman who lives on the first floor of the building died from the fire.
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Two other residents and three Lansing police officers were taken to hospitals. The three officers were treated and released, but conditions were not available for the other two people.
Some neighbors said they had to jump out of windows to save themselves.
Jamie Richardson said he only saw orange flames everywhere when he tried to open the front door of his apartment. So he ran back inside with his family, and together they jumped out the window of their apartment unit.
Richardson said he then went around, trying to help those struggling to jump out of their windows, Including his neighbors and their baby.
"We'd let them know that we was down there ready to catch the baby, and they dropped the baby. Once we caught the baby, I handed it off to my girlfriend, and got it in the car, and I was able to help them get out," he said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The American Red Cross is helping eight people, including three children, who have been left without a place to stay because of the fire.
