Houston firefighters rescued several people who were trapped in elevators when a fire broke out early Monday at a downtown high-rise.
The fire began about 10 a.m. inside an elevator mechanical room on the 32nd floor of the El Paso building at Louisiana and McKinney, said Jay Evans, spokesman at the Houston Fire Department.
At least two maintenance men at the building grabbed fire extinguishers and fought the blaze until firefighters arrived.
"They had already knocked down a major portion of the fire when we arrived," Evans said of the employees.
The fire was quickly doused, but the subsequent power outage trapped several people inside elevators from the 27th floor down to first, Evans said. They were all safely rescued in about an hour, and no injuries were reported.
The building was evacuated during the rescue operation, firefighters said.
Copyright 2012 - Houston Chronicle
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
