A family saved a baby from a burning building in Milwaukee on Sunday, Feb. 1
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Neighbor Anthone Medina waited on the ground to catch the baby as he was lowered to safety in a car seat carrier held up by what appeared to be a tow strap
The Milwaukee Fire Department saved eight people from the building, which reportedly had no sprinklers built in to fight fires
A family saved a baby from a burning building in an unconventional way in Milwaukee on Sunday, Feb. 1.
The Milwaukee Fire Department responded to the scene as the infant was lowered to safety in a car seat carrier held up by what appeared to be a tow strap, local ABC affiliateWXOWreported. "We knew there were a lot of people potentially still inside. We had people hanging from outside of windows," Milwaukee Fire Department Battalion Chief Nickolas Trost told the outlet.
The fire happened occurred near 77th and Green Tree Avenue,ABC 7 Chicagoreports. Neighbor Anthone Medina told the outlet that he assisted in the rescue, waiting on the ground to catch the baby as the flames grew.
"Since they didn't arrive immediately, we tried to save the baby's life by lowering him down with a blanket to get him to safety," Medina told ABC 7 in an interview translated from Spanish to English.
ABC 7 reports that the building had no sprinklers, citing the MFD.
Two people suffered leg injuries after jumping from the building, WXOW reports, citing the MFD.
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"The heaviest part of the fire was on the first floor, in the hallway. That was a big part of this story," Trost told WXOW, while noting that residents had to use alternate escape routes due to the size of the fire. Firefighters rescued eight people, all who are expected to survive, per the outlet.
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Dramatic cell phone video footage obtained by local ABC affiliateWISNshowed heavy smoke filling the building. The bulk of the fire began on the first floor, the outlet reports.
Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski told ABC 7 Chicago that several city departments are actively working to create a database that will notify dispatchers of which buildings do not have sprinkler systems to fight fires.
PEOPLE has reached out to the MFD for further comment, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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