Residents jump from windows during Milwaukee apartment fire that kills 4

MILWAUKEE AP Residents jumped from the windows of a four-story apartment building in Milwaukee during a Mother s Day fire that killed four people critically injured four others and grew so intense that the blaze outmatched the first firefighters to arrive administration disclosed Ladder trucks were used to rescue other residents from windows while particular firefighters inside the burning building crawled on hands and knees to get people out Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski noted Sunday In all about people were rescued Government have not commented how the fire might have started Lipski stated the building did not have a sprinkler system and was built in predating a law that would have required one according to the fire chief If we had sprinklers in the buidling we would have stopped the fire very very small We would not of had to have people jumping out of windows he commented Several other residents were treated for lesser injuries in the fire that began sometime before a m The blaze rendered the -unit building uninhabitable displacing an estimated people James Rubinstein a resident in the building noted he jumped to the ground floor There was so much smoke I climbed out the courtyard with my cat in my backpack Rubinstein reported television station FOX Milwaukee Crisis operaters received calls that people were trapped and jumping to escape The first firefighters to arrive were far far outmatched by intense flames Lipski stated Personnel did not right away release the identities or ages of the casualties Lipski disclosed the fire began in a common area and spread to multiple floors Eddie Edwards another resident of the building reported he also jumped to escape I wasn t thinking about nothing but getting away he described Milwaukee television station WISN Getting out and saving everyone s life It was a scary moment Source