Two people were critically injured and 15 others were rescued from a rooftop after a harrowing fire at a high-rise apartment building in Los Angeles.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the fire had been contained by firefighters after initial reports that multiple residents were trapped inside.
Officials said there were no fatalities.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said a 3-month-old baby and seven others were being treated, and that two of the injured were in either grave or critical condition.
According to reports, some of the injured were burned, but the majority suffered smoke inhalation.
Officials said early reports that some people may have jumped were not true.
A helicopter crew member on the roof helped attach each person to line and they were hoisted into the hovering chopper one by one. At one point firefighters lifted a small white dog into the helicopter.
“We have rarely done rooftop evacuations for medical purposes. Rarely,” Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said, adding that the strategy was “very effective.”
Deputy Fire Chief Armando Hogan said the fire was put out shortly before 10 a.m. PST, about 90 minutes after firefighters responded. In all, seven people were taken to a hospital, reports said.
Hogan said the cause of the fire is under investigation, with firefighters looking into the possibility it was deliberately set. “Arson is on the scene doing an investigation,” he said.
Firefighters were able to put out the blaze at the Barrington Plaza Apartments as several residents were rescued from windows by ladder and from the rooftop 25 stories up.
Reports said the fire was extinguished a little more than an hour after it began.
NBC Los Angeles is reporting a possible suspect in the fire’s cause is in custody:
“The herculean effort by the members of the Los Angeles Fire Department was incredible,” Hogan told the L.A. Times.
The building is in the Sawtelle neighborhood at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and South Barrington Avenue reports said.
The building has more than 300 residential units, but is not equipped with sprinklers, reports said.
It is the same building that was the scene of a destructive blaze just six years ago that injured two people and displaced about 150 residents, reports said.
Initial accounts said there were at least 10 apartments on fire.
The L.A. Fire Department confirmed after the blaze that no one jumped from the building despite earlier reports that an unknown number of residents were seen leaping from the sixth floor to escape the flames.
Another person who was outside clinging to a ledge near the flames was eventually rescued by ladder, reports said.
Other residents took to the roof of the building where a rescue helicopter hovered and lowered a lifeline to raise them up to the aircraft.
KTLA-5 News Los Angeles said flames were first seen on the sixth floor a little after 8:30 Wednesday morning. The news station was one of the first to report that several people had apparently jumped from the building to escape.
Video footage provided by ABC News 7 showed roiling orange flames and thick black smoke billowing from a bank of open windows on about the sixth floor.
The flames appeared to be contained to the one area, where firefighters focused a water hose from the rescue ladder.
Not long after the blaze began, firefighters were seen emerging on an apartment balcony a couple floors above the inferno.
After dousing the fire, crews could be seen walking onto a balcony in the same area where flames had been raging just minutes earlier.
— This is a developing story. Please return to AJC.com for updates.
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