Fresno apartment fire forces victim to jump from second floor. 4 injured, dozens displaced

Fresno firefighters knocked down an apartment fire early Sunday morning in the 3200 block of Pleasant Avenue, moving quickly from a rescue mode to attacking the four-alarm emergency blaze.

“We got the call about 4:30 a.m., came out here to a fire that had extended from debris between two apartments to a two-story apartment and a single-story apartment,” Fresno Fire battalion Chief Tim Fulmer said.

“When crews arrived, we had heavy fire that involved both of the apartment buildings. We did have victims jumping from the second floor and still trapped inside their apartments. We quickly went into rescue mode and were able to assist them getting out.”

Four residents were transported to the hospital, two with burn injuries, one with smoke inhalation and one with a broken ankle or leg.

“We did have a collapse of the balcony right above where the main body of the fire was,” Fulmer said. “I believe the person that was in that apartment couldn’t get out because of the balcony collapse and jumped out the backside.”

There were no injuries to firefighters.

The cause of the fire, which displaced about 40 residents, is under investigation. Due to the resources Fresno Fire committed to the apartment fire, it had to suspend medical aid calls for a few hours.

“We don’t know at this point, but some of our concerns are with the amount of debris and items that are collected in apartments and people smoking, those two things cause problems for us and that might have led to what caused this fire, but it’s still under investigation at this point,” Fulmer said.