HARTFORD, Wis. — Three people were forced to jump from a balcony to escape a burning apartment building in Hartford that left 12 people displaced, one of them injured, on Saturday.
The fire started just before 1 a.m. on Oct. 17 at an 8-unit apartment building on Evergreen Drive. According to Hartford Fire & Rescue Department, police officers were able to help residents out of the building on the first floor, but encountered thick black smoke on the second floor.
While one officer sprayed fire extinguishers through a first-floor front window to slow the fire, two other officers went to the back of the building to help three people trapped on a second-floor balcony. The three people jumped and were caught by the officers.
Hartford Fire & Rescue says the fire was pushing out of the front window on the first floor and rapidly spreading to the unit above it and the attic. Crews quickly found the source of the fire in the bedroom of a first floor unit and extinguished it.
As fire crews searched the apartment building to make sure no smoldering embers remained, they rescued ten pets from the building.
One resident had minor injuries and two Hartford Police officers were treated for smoke related injuries at the hospital.
American Red Cross of Wisconsin assisted the 12 resdients who were displaced.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
