DENVER — Five people were taken to a hospital after a fire broke out at an apartment building in Denver Saturday morning.
At 8 a.m., Denver Fire said on social media that crews were able to extinguish a fire at a multi-family residence near East 22nd Avenue and North Clarkson Street, which is south of the Five Points neighborhood.
Adam Steinbach, who lives across the street from the building, said he used a ladder to begin rescuing people from a second-story awning before firefighters arrived.
"I just figured, 'How are we going to get them down?'" Steinbach said. "It was definitely too far to jump, so I just ran back, grabbed a ladder, and threw it up."
Steinbach said the people were screaming and clearly didn't have another exit point from the burning apartment.
> Video below: Neighbor captures moment people were rescued from fire at Denver apartment building
"We kicked in the front door, and flames were coming out the front door, so it was pretty obvious they weren’t going to be able to get across to exit out the door, they had to come out the window," he said. "It was concerning."
Denver Health paramedics transported five people to nearby hospitals, the department said. The extent of their injuries is unknown.
"It wasn't super easy for them to get down, so thank God the fire department showed up," said Steinbach.
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