CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Officers rescue residents from apartment fire

EAST HARTFORD, CT (WFSB/Gray News) - A fire at an apartment complex in Connecticut sent two police officers to the hospital on Monday morning.

Police were originally responding to a welfare complaint on Monday. Once they arrived, however, they said they saw heavy smoke coming from the first floor of the apartment building.

Body camera footage shows how officers sprung into action and began evacuating residents, including one resident using a wheelchair.

The fire department was able to get the fire out and get all other residents to safety.

Police said two police officers were released from the hospital after they were treated for smoke inhalation.

Residents in the complex said they continued to feel uneasy and unsafe after the fire was put out.

One resident, who did not provide her name, said it was the scariest moment of her life.

She said the fire alarm started going off and when she opened the door, she was hit with black smoke. She and her daughter escaped out of a window and sat outside for several hours.

She said she believes there were people living in the basement that may have caused the fire.

“I feel like it’s negligent and harmful to us,” she said. “They think squatters may have been in the building probably smoking or using substances, lit something and left it unattended which caused all this damage here.”

The resident said she was placed in a separate unit.

On Monday afternoon, she had a sign on her door from the town that told her she’d have to evacuate because the building was unsafe.

She said she had not heard from the town or the complex on if she’ll be able to move back inside her apartment.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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