UPDATED STORY: Fire officials have confirmed a woman has died from in injuries sustained in the fire.
A cause of death and name of the victim have not yet been released.
PREVIOUS STORY: Investigators say the fire started in a basement apartment in the back of the building in the 2300 block of Terra Firma Road trapping people on the floors above, including a male victim who does not wish to be identified who saved the life of his pregnant girlfriend.
“I broke the windows out with my hand,” the victim told us, “I lowered her until she touched her feet to the ground and then I lowered her down, and she slipped because there’s mud right there on the glass and then, once I jumped out of the window, I fell and smacked the entire left side of my body.”
In the midst of the rescue efforts, firefighters say a son dragged his mother out the front door of the building.
They suffered third-degree burns and at last report, they remain in critical condition.
From her vantage point across the street, Morgan Rouse looked on as paramedics rushed to save their lives.
“They were bringing them out. You know, bringing them this way towards the ambulance, and you could clearly, visibly see that some people were burned,” said Rouse, “It was just a real horrible scene.”
In all, five people suffered injuries from the fire, which blocked most of the peoples’ paths to the primary exit leaving them little choice, but to try to save themselves any way they could.
“Once the fire starts, I mean there’s no ‘Get out!’, yelling or anything,” the man who jumped from his window told us, “It’s either you awoke or you’re caught in it or you’re making something happen. It’s no in between.”
