Crews Battle 3-Alarm Fire At Apartment Building In Glendale, 2 Firefighters Injured

GLENDALE (CBSLA) — Fire crews were battling a three-alarm fire Thursday afternoon in Glendale.

The fire broke out at about 2:50 p.m. in an eight-unit, two-story apartment building the 100 block of Carr Drive.

Chief Silvio Lanzas of the Glendale Fire Department said when firefighters arrived to the structure, they found heavy fire coming from the basement and the first floor with multiple victims trapped on the second floor of the building that was built before 1933.

Lanzas said fire crews were able to rescue six victims, including a small child who was passed through a window to safety, from the fire. Three were taken to the hospital for treatment and the other three were treated on scene.

"He heard an explosion, and he went running down," Maria Gutierrez, the daughter of one of the victims, said. "He said that the basement on fire and that there was black smoke everywhere. He got hurt, he got burned, he has smoke inhalation and he's in the hospital, but he's OK thank God."

While firefighters continued to fight the blaze, two of them fell from the second floor of the apartment building through the first floor and landed  in the basement.

Both firefighters were rescued from the building and taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.

"We do expect them to make a full recovery," Lanzas said.

Lanzas said a portion of the building has collapsed, but he said the department was still evaluating the remainder of the building for structural damage.

"The building is constructed in such a manner where there's a center hallway that separates all the apartment units," Lanzas said. "The one side where the fire started definitely sustained major damage."

The American Red Cross was helping residents of that apartment building secure shelter.

Fire fighters were able to put out the fire just before 5 p.m., but it was not immediately known what started the blaze.