BRIEF: Firefighters rescue dozens from Garfield apartment building fire
March 25--Pittsburgh firefighters used ladders to rescue about two dozen people from a burning apartment building in Garfield on Monday morning, the fire chief said.
"I thought I was going to have to jump," said Everette Middlebrook, 21, who was visiting family in a third-floor apartment. "The only way out was the window. When I saw the ladder, I felt relieved."
Paramedics hospitalized four people with smoke inhalation and treated several others at the scene of the fire on North Negley Avenue, Chief Darryl Jones said.
"This could've been a tragedy of enormous proportion," Jones said.
The fire, which was reported about 7:10 a.m., began in a stairwell and trapped several people in their apartments in the three-story building, Jones said.
Middlebrook said firefighters led her slowly down the ladder.
"It was really scary," she said while wrapped in a blanket outside.
Copyright 2013 - The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
