Trending Topics

Firefighters improvise with ladders to save 3 at fire

Their ladders were too short to reach a balcony where residents had escaped; they pieced together an escape route using two ladders

NBC Washington

LANDOVER HILLS, Md. — Three people were trapped on the balcony of a burning building with firefighters trying to save them — but all the ladders the first-responders had were too short.

Volunteer firefighters in Landover Hills, Maryland saved three lives early Thursday by thinking on their feet and piecing together an escape route using two ladders.

Firefighters responded about 12:30 a.m. to a fire on the top floor of an apartment building on the 4400 block of 68th Place, the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department said. Residents screamed from the fourth floor, trapped onto a balcony right next to where the fire had consumed a staircase.

Full story: Forced to Improvise, Volunteer Firefighters in Prince George’s County Save 3 Lives

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU