Firefighters used ladders to rescue three people trapped on the second floor of a burning apartment Wednesday morning in southeast Fresno. The two-alarm blaze broke out in a ground-floor unit at the complex in the 2900 block of East Nevada Avenue, near First and Tulare streets, about 8:30 a.m.
Flames blew out a window of the apartment and fire spread toward the units upstairs, Fire Department spokesman Koby Johns said.
Heavy black smoke prevented upstairs residents from using a common stairway to get out of the building, so they threw a mattress out a window and were preparing to jump about 15 feet to the ground. Fortunately, Johns said, firefighters arrived within two minutes from a nearby station and put up ladders to help them down.
One person was taken to Community Regional Medical Center to be treated for smoke inhalation.
About 40 firefighters went to the blaze. At least one ground floor unit was destroyed. The cause is under investigation.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
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