The scene following a fire that damaged a thrid story apartment at 340 Putnam St., in Bridgeport, Conn. Thursday, May 20th, 2010.Photo: Ned Gerard / Connecticut Post
Noelle Frampton, Staff Writer
Published: 11:14 p.m., Thursday, May 20, 2010
The scene following a fire that damaged a thrid story apartment at 340 Putnam St., in Bridgeport, Conn. Thursday, May 20th, 2010.
Photo: Ned Gerard / Connecticut Post
BRIDGEPORT -- A middle-aged woman is in critical condition following a dramatic leap from a fourth-floor window to escape the fire that gutted her East Side apartment Thursday afternoon, fire officials said.
The two-alarm fire, reported about 2:40 p.m., badly damaged Wilma Edmounds' unit, 4A, on the top floor of the four-story apartment building at 340 Putnam St.
Edmounds ran from her apartment into a neighbor's, warning the other woman and then leaping out the window and grabbing the fire ladder that firemen were raising toward the rear of the building at the corner of Putnam and East Main Street, said Assistant Fire Chief Ismael Pomales.
Believed to be in her 40s, Edmounds was taken to Bridgeport Hospital in critical condition due to smoke inhalation, said Deputy Chief Bruce Porzelt.
The cause of the fire, which started in her apartment, has not been determined, but officials are viewing it as suspicious and an arson investigation is under way, Porzelt said.
Other apartments in the building suffered water and smoke damage, too, he said, adding that the scope of the damage was still undetermined and officials had prepared a school to house the displaced residents if need be.
"Her apartment is pretty well burned," he said. "Everything's gone. It was cooking. (The flames) must have been up 15 feet out of the window."
Porzelt added that red smoke was boiling from the windows -- the first time he's seen red smoke in 33 years of firefighting.
At first, emergency responders thought the blaze started with an explosion, but learned later that it was likely an unconnected M-80 firework going off simultaneously down the street, he said.
Jose Fernandez, who lives nearby on Pearl Street, said he saw the whole thing amid smoke boiling out blacker and blacker.
"She was hanging on for dear life," he said. "The fireman was up there and he was hanging on to her. All the people in the neighborhood were trying to get in there ... trying to help. Everybody was underneath waiting to catch her. (The firefighters) did a good job, without a doubt. It was amazing."
Witnesses and officials said firemen lowered Edmounds to the ground, two of them holding tightly to her wrists as she clutched the ladder.
Other residents evacuated more traditionally, down ladders or the building stairwell. No one else was injured, officials said.
Residents gathered outside the building as firemen worked, some of them with dogs, two small rabbits and a bird in a cage. A pet cat was still missing late Thursday. Daniesha Garrett was among the locals gathered around. She said she saw the blaze, but not the leaping woman.
"I saw the smoke and as I got closer, you could see the flames," she said. "The glass was shattering out into the street."
John Mongillo Jr. contributed to this report.