JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A firefighter whose shoulder was dislocated in a fall from a second-floor balcony while flames at the Los Lagos Condominiums on Monday night is out of the hospital and recovering at home.
The three-alarm fire, which broke out around 8 p.m. at 7592 Los Robles Court in the Baymeadows area, took about 60 firefighters 90 minutes to get the blaze under control.
"We call a mayday and we have to send in what we call a rapid intervention team to go in and get him out so as soon as that happens," said Martin Senterfitt, director of Jacksonville Fire-Rescue. "Everyone's blood pressure goes up about 50 points until we get him out safe. So it's a scary few moments but they were able to get him out and get him to the hospital."
Recommended Videos
Crews remained on scene overnight monitoring hot spots. The state fire marshal was called to investigate what sparked the fire.
The fire chief said families who lived in the three units the building are now without a home.
"My mom was in her room, which is right next to the room which caught on fire," said Kaitlin Prince, whose mother and grandmother were displaced in the fire. "She went to the vent, looked at it (and) she saw the smoke was coming out, so she walked down to the hallway and opened up the attic and smoke just poured out. She walked outside and looked out and the whole front part of the downstairs was on fire so she called 911."
"Because of the impact, it's probably going to take the whole building out for a period of time, so we're going to have to see how many occupants were in that building and how many apartments were involved and we will go from there," Senterfitt said.
Four Red Cross volunteers went to the condominiums to assist.
"I'm' thankful that my family is safe, you know, and that the firefighters are safe, because I know they got injured," Prince said.
The volunteers provided food and temporary lodging to three displaced residents from two units.