Firefighters rescued four people, including a young child, after a suspicious blaze started burning in the hallway of a South Shore neighborhood apartment building Monday afternoon.
Emergency officials were called about 2:40 p.m. to a seven-story walkup in the 7000 block of South Jeffery Boulevard, Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said.
A woman in a second-floor unit heard her smoke detector go off and called 911 after she found a fire in the hallway in front of her door, blocking her only exit, Langford said.
Firefighters put ladders up the front of the building and rescued the woman after bringing a young girl, about 4, to safety, he said.
Crews also rescued two other adults from a rear-facing unit, Langford said. No one was injured.
The heavy fire burned through the woman’s door, and filled the building with smoke, Langford said.
The blaze is considered suspicious, and both the Office of Fire Investigations and police Bomb and Arson Unit are looking into the cause, he said.
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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