A raging five-alarm inferno at an Allston apartment house put six people in the hospital early Saturday, authorities said -- including a firefighter, a second-floor jumper and a young woman whose three-story life-or-death leap left her in critical condition.
The woman, believed to be in her 20s, screamed for help from the rear of the billowing Quint Avenue home, then plummeted after jumping to catch a fire-rescue ladder on its way to her window.
"She couldn't wait for the ladder to get there," Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said. "What happens with fire is, just between the flames and the smoke, the conditions become such that jumping is a better alternative than staying in place. Fire can take over a residence in seconds."
The woman was fighting for her life yesterday at Brigham and Women's Hospital, MacDonald said. She might have died on the scene, he said, had she not landed on a first-floor overhang, then rolled off and fallen on top of a fire lieutenant.
The lieutenant was hospitalized with a back injury and will return to duty only after a medical follow-up, MacDonald said.
The second-floor jumper was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, MacDonald said. Officials did not know his condition.
Three others were hospitalized for smoke inhalation, he said.
"We're fortunate no one died from this," he said, adding that firefighters were on the scene within four minutes of the 6:18 a.m. call. "It's really due to an aggressive attack by the firefighters in getting ladders up on all sides of the building, on all different floors."
Eight people -- seven residents, one guest -- were inside the home at the time of the fire, American Red Cross spokeswoman Kat Powers said.
Two occupants were out of town for the night, she said.
The agency placed three residents in hotel rooms and provided emergency money for food, shoes, coats and clothing.
Firefighters spent hours chopping at the exterior walls and dousing stubborn, smoldering spots with water. The fire consumed the roof and tore through all three floors, fire officials said, estimating the loss at $650,000. The cause is under investigation.
Copyright 2012 - Boston Herald
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
