Tenants rescued, displaced after Bridgeport apartment building fire
Lionel Harris explained that he helped his elderly neighbor evacuate, then ran back into his second-floor apartment to grab a couple things and call the fire department.
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One day after a fire displaced everyone at 3061 Main St. in Bridgeport, the apartment building’s tenants returned to salvage what they could.
“I don't have anything, no clothes, nothing. Everything smells like smoke,” said Rosa Lugo.
“I went to Walmart last night to buy some clothes,” Lionel Harris stated.
Harris, who works from home, said that on Tuesday, the fire alarm went off around 4:30 p.m. He initially thought someone had just set it off from cooking.
“But when I opened the door, I could see a pillar of smoke from the ceiling down,” Harris recalled. “It went all the way down the hallway. So, I knew something was wrong. This was different.”
Harris told News 12 he ran down the stairs to the first floor and saw that hallway full of smoke, too.
“I yelled, ‘Get out the building, everybody! Get out the building!’” Harris said.
Harris explained that he helped his elderly neighbor evacuate, then ran back into his second-floor apartment to grab a couple things and call the fire department. But when Harris tried to get out this time, he couldn't.
“I started choking a lot because the smoke was coming from underneath my door, so I threw a blanket in front of it, and I opened the window to look and see where it was at. And that's when I could see the flames and hear the crackling in the apartment downstairs to the left of me,” Harris shared.
Harris said he was scared he’d be trapped, so he jumped out the window onto the roof of the building next door, remaining there until firefighters rescued him.
Once off the roof, Harris was one of two people taken to the hospital, where he was treated for smoke inhalation before being released. The fire department said six more tenants were checked out by paramedics on scene.
“I'm still shook up about this,” Harris told News 12.
He’s not the only one.
"Everything was so dark. I couldn't see anything," Lugo said describing her initial attempt to evacuate.
But Lugo wasn't alone. She also had her mother, who was visiting from Puerto Rico, and her 8-month old dog, Candy.
“I had to throw my Candy through the window because she was like going like crazy with the smoke, and my husband caught her,” Lugo said as she cradled the small dog.
Lugo's foot is in a boot so firefighters helped her and her mom safely escape.
“They took us out the window, both of us,” Lugo recalled.
The fire began in a first-floor apartment, but the cause remains under investigation, according to Bridgeport officials. They said the Red Cross is helping eight of the families with hotel vouchers for the next few days, but some people told News 12 they’re not sure what will happened after that.
“The beautiful gift is nobody died. Everybody's alive, you know? And we can always rebuild. That's the way I look at this,” Harris said.
