The release of dispatch audio from a fire at an Atlantic City high-rise last week reveals an impressive evacuation effort by firefighters, with the niece of one resident calling it "organized chaos."
According to NJ.com, firefighters from Atlantic City and surrounding communities safely and methodically evacuated almost 300 people from the Jeffries Tower on Thursday night after an electrical fire broke out during a snow storm and filled all 18 floors of the building with smoke.
Dispatch transmissions reveal firefighters executing a quickly coordinated sweep of the building. With many of the residents in the building elderly or disabled, firefighters carried people down as many as 15 flights of stairs.
"We have an occupant waving out on a balcony on the 15th floor, asking for help," one emergency responder says before sending help that way.
The fire originated in a mechanical room on the third floor and quickly spread. Firefighters needed about 90 minutes to get it under control.
Another issue facing crews was that residents were leaving the building and walking out into five-foot snow drifts, but everyone remained accounted for and there were no serious injuries.
"They had a clipboard," Tia Bucci, who arrived to help her uncle who lives in the building, told NJ.com. "It was the most organized chaos I've ever seen. We told them we were looking for Ed Ricci and they directed me to exactly where he was and escorted me to see him. Then, he said he had no medication, that's how fast he had to leave, so they escorted me to get his medication."
Listen to an edited version of the audio here.
