Denver firefighters battled a second-floor apartment blaze of uncertain origin, rescuing several trapped residents after others jumped.
Denver Health Medical Center ambulances carried “multiple injured parties” for treatment, Denver Fire Department spokesman Lt. Ahmid Nunn said.
Denver Health nurses said as many as 10 ambulances carried fire victims to the emergency room Sunday night.
The fire broke out shortly before 9:14 p.m. at the Federal View Apartments, 2625 Federal Boulevard. Several streets were blocked off in the area as crews battled the blaze.
“It sounds like there were a few people who jumped and were injured. They had others trapped on the second floor,” Nunn said. ” Firefighters were able to extract them from that position and get them to safety.”
Residents described people rescuing infants using blankets and tossing them out windows.
“We were sleeping,” Derae Sanchez said, standing with Eric Lomba outside the building.
Lomba said they heard yelling. He smelled an odor “like wires burning” and “I see a bunch of smoke,” Lomba said.
He, Sanchez and Joey Pacheco, all residents of the lower level, left with money and belongings to the street. Pacheco said the fire started on the third level.
Pacheco said he saw a father trying to crawl back in the burning building to rescue his infant children. He said firefighters tackled the father, but later rescued the babies.
The cause of the fire hadn’t been determined. Firefighters had largely snuffed the flames by 9:40 p.m.
Some relatives rushed to the emergency room at Denver Health after hearing about the fire and residents jumping from the building.
Gene and Rosalie Ramirez came to the hospital to be there when their infant grandson arrived.
Their son had told them how the boy’s mother jumped from the second floor.
“He thinks she might have broken her back,” Gene Ramirez said.
The fire happened about a half block north of Denver fire station No. 12, and Denver Public Schools opened a nearby school for residents who were displaced.
Denver Health officials said late Sunday night six patients were in fair condition, three were in serious condition, and two were in critical condition.
