By Joshua Melvin
The Contra Costa Times
BELMONT, Calif. — As the flames leapt at her back, a pregnant woman jumped from her apartment window early Tuesday morning, fell roughly 16 feet and was caught by a man waiting below, a fire official said.
Both the man and the 6½-months pregnant woman, who survived the two-alarm blaze in an apartment building at 2515 Carlmont Drive, were later taken to a hospital with minor injuries, said Belmont-San Carlos Fire Chief Doug Fry. The man twisted his ankle catching the woman, and she had cuts and bruises.
“Usually, you don’t want to jump, but it (happens) when you don’t have choice,” said Fry, who added that the pair shared a unit, though he was unsure if they were a couple.
They were among 22 people displaced from the 23-unit building by the intense, fast-moving flames. Four other people were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation as a result of the fire, which started about 3:05 a.m. Two of them were released. Fry said late Tuesday afternoon he had not heard the condition of the two other people sent for treatment.
Firefighters had to rescue 12 residents from their balconies, where they had become trapped as the flames advanced. Flames blocked exits and smoke filled hallways. The heat, even where flames weren’t present, melted exit signs, Fry said. Damage was estimated at $1 million.
“It was a very intense fire,” he said. “People had no idea how to get out of there. This could have been a really, really sad story.”
Because the fire started in the unit from which the pregnant woman jumped, investigators were looking to speak with the man and woman. However, their cell phones were destroyed in the flames and officials were working to track them down late Tuesday. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it does not appear to be suspicious.
When firefighters arrived at the apartment building, the pair had already escaped from their unit. They told officials that the man had run through the flames to get out of the apartment, but the woman either couldn’t or didn’t want to do that, Fry said. So the man ran downstairs, out of the building and caught the woman after she jumped.
Firefighters also rescued an assortment of pets from the building, including “dogs, cats, turtles, pythons — you name it,” Fry said. One cat was still unaccounted for, but Fry said the other pets were in the care of the Peninsula Humane Society. Their owners were being lodged by the Red Cross, family and friends or are now staying in other buildings in the same apartment complex.
The burned building will require significant repairs before it is again habitable, officials said.
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