Dramatic rescue shown during fire in 25-story LA building
LOS ANGELES — Firefighters were plucking people off the roof of a 25-story Los Angeles residential building during a fire that erupted Wednesday near the sixth floor.
It appeared shortly after 10 a.m. that all flames and smoke had dissipated but authorities said there were reports that an unspecified number of people had jumped.
Firefighters swarmed the building on the city’s west side Wednesday morning. Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said an undetermined number of persons were reported to have jumped from the sixth or nearby floors. A large inflatable bag was set up on the ground on one side of the building.
“Persons (number undetermined) have reportedly jumped from that or nearby floors,” fire department spokesman Brian Humphrey wrote on Twitter.
The fire department said the fire was reported about 8:30 a.m., about two hours after a wind-swept blaze damaged a 26-story office building about three blocks away.
About 50 people were evacuated from that building, where damage was mostly confined to the first and second floors.
Humphrey said the nexus between the two fires may have been the wind.