Fire At West Philadelphia Apartment Building Leads To Series Of Dramatic Rescues
[Editor's note: This has been updated as of 6 p.m.]
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Flames broke out overnight at an apartment building in West Philadelphia. Cellphone video captured the dramatic rescues as firefighters pulled people from the burning building.
Resident Hakim Laws says he was walking along the 1200 block of North 52nd Street when he saw flames shooting out of the building's second-floor around 2 a.m. Laws, a former firefighter, says he joined first responders and helped get residents out one by one.
That man was Nadir Darby.
"I looked out my window, I just see a bunch of smoke coming from below... like shooting up," Darby said. "I woke everybody up. My kid went to the door to try to get out and smoke rushed up the steps so the only way out was through the window. Once they got the ladders up it was only a matter of getting everyone out."
According to authorities, an air conditioning unit sparked the flames.
The front of the building was badly charred.
Officials say 10 people were displaced, two people were taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and one person was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
CBS3's Crystal Cranmore contributed to this report.