First responders helped rescue residents from a burning Lehigh County apartment building early Friday, the local fire chief said.
The fire broke out shortly before 3 a.m. on Oct. 25, 2024, at the Independence Square Apartments complex off Maryland Circle in Fullerton, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County 911 dispatchers said.
The blaze started in a storage locker on the second floor, Whitehall Township Fire Chief Mark Builder said. It would spread to three alarms, meaning around 150 fire personnel responded.
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Bilder said that the fire wasn't even visible when firefighters arrived, but that they were met with smoke once on the second floor.
Several other fire departments and police officers helped get residents safely out of the smoky building. Some of those people were rescued by ladder from balconies.
“We had to evacuate about 400 people,” Bilder said. “We were able to get the job done, which is amazing.”
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Only about 100 of the evacuees fled from the burning building, according to the American Red Cross. The rest left surrounding apartment buildings.
No one needed to be hospitalized for injuries, Bilder said. Smoke and fire damaged about three or four apartments.
Resident "Lucille" said at first she didn't think anything of the knocking on her door. "Then they started banging... and I see the fire department outside my door."
"When they said 'get out' I was like 'OK, I'm leaving,'" she said while standing outside her home.
She said she smelled smoke as she went down the steps from the second-floor apartment she just moved into last week.
Residents wouldn't be allowed be into about 10 or so units, the Red Cross said. The Red Cross was helping those residents who were unable to get back into their homes by late Friday morning.
Firefighters and equipment remained on scene hours after the fire began. Some people could be seen milling outside on a chilly morning.
The cause of the fire wasn't immediately clear.
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