Exclusive Video: Tenants Jump From Roof To Escape Major Mount Vernon Blaze
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Five people were injured when a major fire broke out in a house in Mount Vernon Wednesday afternoon.
The fire broke out around 5:45 p.m. at the flame house at 20 Claremont Ave. in Mount Vernon, and was quickly raised to a second alarm as flames shot through the third floor.
As CBS2's Tracee Carrasco reported, some of the victims had to take extreme measures to get out alive -- four of them had to jump to safety.
Exclusive cell phone video shows a woman waiting for help on the roof as heavy smoke poured out of a second story window -- moments before the tenants jumped to safety and the home was fully engulfed.
"It was panic," said homeowner Apienti Gyapong, who said he saw tenants jump from the roof and the second and third floors. "There was, where do you come by? They were panicking."
David Lacey was in the basement of the multi-family home when it began.
"They were panicking, so you know that was the only way they have to run away," he said.
Gyapong believes an air conditioning on the second floor may have sparked the fire.
"The moment I came out I saw the second floor air conditioning on fire and they came down and the tenants were running and screaming," he said.
Mount Vernon's mayor reminded residents to use caution during the hot summer months.
"Double check those circuit breakers, those power strips, make sure they're not over loaded," he said, "In the event that people are running gadgets at the same time that's a bad idea, particularly when you have an old home," Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas said.
Three of the victims were taken to Jacobi Medical Center, and two to Montefiore Medical Center, the Mayor's office told CBS2's Tracee Carrasco.
Three people were being treated for smoke inhalation, two others for sprains.
Their conditions were not immediately available.
The city said the home is structurally unsound. They're still trying to determine if that air conditioner or something else sparked the blaze.