FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Severe damage from a fire on the first floor of an apartment building in Fort Lauderdale trapped a woman inside and fire crews worked quick to pull her out.
Fort Lauderdale Police and Fire Rescue units responded to the area along the 800 block of Northeast 18th Avenue on Friday afternoon.
Upon arrival, crews found smoke coming from the apartment. Police tried to get into the apartment, but firefighters were there and rushed to save her.
When crews entered, they found an unconscious woman in the living room.
Paramedics quickly rushed her to a local hospital. Her condition is unknown.
Brianna Oliveira lives in the fourplex apartment building and told 7News she was outside when the fire began and tried to warn her neighbor.
“And I heard a pop and then I smelled smoke. But I thought somebody maybe was just like cooking something or like a firework,” said Oliveira. “I saw the black smoke coming through the back window and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ So then I went in the front to try to go bang on the girl’s door,” said Oliveira.
At one point, Oliveira injured her voice trying to alert the woman.
“I’m like crying and praying, and I’m like, ‘Lord, please like, you know, I’m about to cry right now, but I just hope she’s OK,” she said.
She said the woman was speaking from inside the home when the first first broke out.
“We couldn’t like make out exactly what she was saying. She was just like help me like that. Like literally my body went into like fight or flight immediately. It’s so scary,” said Oliveira.
Fire crews said the situation was tricky upon their arrival.
“When you have somebody that’s unconscious, it’s like a rag dog and it’s very tough to not injure the person while you’re trying to get them out, not to mention the buildings are on fire and we have to get them to our paramedics as soon as you can because you know she’s probably one or two minutes away from just going completely unconscious, probably dying,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Assistant Fire Chief Tim Heiser
Heiser praised the rescue crew for saving the woman.
“They did really good job, a really good job with resuscitation. They administered some medicine that we give to burn victims to help them get the cyanide and whatnot out of their blood. And they did tell me that she was a little more cognitive in the back of the rescue truck,” said Heiser.
Oliveira said her two cats were rescued, too.
The damage was mainly in the kitchen, where firefighters had to get through to save the victim.
“It’s a rarity that when we have an apartment like this that’s so involved with fire to get a victim out and actually they’re still alive. So it’s very big for the rescuers because we don’t get victories all the time,” said Heiser
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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