Woman jumps out window onto mattress to escape apartment fire
By Penny Kmitt
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SOMERVILLE, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A fire tore through an apartment building in Somerville, Massachusetts early Monday and one woman escaped by jumping out of a window and onto a mattress.
Flames broke out in the Somerville Housing Authority complex on Powder House Boulevard just before midnight. Several people were trapped, according to Fire Chief Charles Breen.
“We had a lot to contend with when we arrived,” he told reporters. “There were multiple people hanging out windows, people screaming.”
Firefighters rescued two of them from the third floor by ladder. Another person was found unconscious in a bathroom in a second-floor apartment where investigators believe the fire started. That person was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital in serious condition with burns and smoke inhalation.
In all of the chaos, a woman jumped out of a window to escape the fire.
“Another resident had actually dragged a mattress over that I believe maybe was out for the rubbish and put it down before the person jumped. Also, a deputy chief helped break the woman’s fall when she fell. I think that sort of prevented some more serious injuries from occurring,” Breen said. He did not say what floor the woman was on when she jumped. The building is three stories high.
The chief said the woman, who has not been identified, was taken to a hospital and that her injuries “didn’t appear to be too serious.”
One firefighter was hurt, but not seriously, according to Breen.
There’s no word yet on how the fire started. The building is divided into three sections. The chief said the section where fire started is now “uninhabitable” and the people living in those nine apartments won’t be allowed back in.
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