ST. LOUIS – First responders rescued five children and adults from a house fire Tuesday afternoon in north St. Louis. A police officer was also sent to a hospital during the incident.
The daring rescue was all caught on camera.
St. Louis firefighters were called to the 5100 block of Kensington Avenue in the Academy neighborhood for a report of children trapped on the second floor of a home during a fire.
Heavy smoke could be seen coming from the house while first responders worked on the rescue. All of the people rescued are expected to survive but the home is considered a total loss. An officer at the scene was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
Darren Roberts noticed the fire and heard the family yelling for help. He called 911 as the home quickly filled with smoke and flames. Roberts even went into the home to try and rescue the family before first responders arrived.
“Citizens and the police department got the people out of the building immediately. The ones they could not reach, the fire department got on the scene within four minutes and we had heavy fire on the first floor of a four-family brick building, so timing was everything on this one,” St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Jenkerson said he’s grateful everyone made it out of the burning building safely and will be ok.
