5 people hospitalized, 3 dogs killed in Riverside apartment fire

Five people were hospitalized and three dogs died after a fire in a Riverside apartment building on Thursday morning. 

Neighbors said the fire spread so quickly through one unit that people had to jump out of second-story windows. 

"The pregnant lady, she jumped out of the back window," neighbor Steven Hilde said. "The guy who was in the front, he came out the front window and injured his leg."

Hilde said a loud explosion across his stairwell woke him up and sent his dogs into a panic. 

"Looked through the peephole on my door and there was nothing," he said. "Cracked my door open, a cloud of smoke, like a jet flame, coming out of the door."

The Riverside City Fire Department had to lift a ladder up to Hilde's window to get him and his bigger dog out. Firefighters said they found two people hurt below the windows and sent five people to the hospital. 

While they were able to keep the flames from spreading to other units, three dogs died in the apartment where the fire started. 

Hilde said one of his dogs is missing after he tossed her into a neighbor's arms while escaping the fire. 

"She got lost in the chaos and I haven't seen her since," he said. 

The Red Cross helped four displaced people. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.