CNN
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At least 17 people were injured – some critically – during a fire early Saturday that left some residents trapped on balconies of a highrise apartment building in Silver Spring, Maryland, fire officials say.
The three-alarm fire, with more than 100 firefighters responding, broke out shortly before 6 a.m. on the seventh floor of the 15-story highrise just north of Washington, DC, said Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein.
At least 10 people were transported to hospitals, some with critical and life-threatening injuries, according to Goldstein. Seven others arrived at hospitals on their own. Three firefighters sustained minor injuries.
Heavy smoke prevented some residents from leaving their apartments in the Arrive Silver Spring complex, forcing a number of them to wait for rescuers on their balconies in subfreezing temperatures, fire officials said. Others, without balconies, were trapped in their apartments until rescuers arrived. Some trapped residents called 911.
“We did have a multiple number of apartments in which the residents were unable to exit the hallway based upon significant smoke conditions,” Goldstein said.
Residents who managed to leave their apartments had to maneuver around firefighters trying to reach the seventh floor.
“You have fire crews going up. Residents coming down on the same stairwells. And … smoke conditions on multiple floors throughout the building were identified as extremely dense or zero visibility,” Goldstein said.
Gianna Gronowski, who describes herself on Twitter as a digital editor for Stars and Stripes, said she was trapped on her balcony, CNN affiliate WUSA reported.
On Saturday morning, Gronowski chronicled the fire’s aftermath in a series of tweets, including photos of cherry pickers stretching to the building’s upper floors and a dog evacuated to a hotel lobby across the street – along with two cats and a gecko in a lunchbox. She later tweeted that residents were “cooped up” in the hotel ballroom.
Images from the scene showed flames emerging from windows in the middle of the building in the predawn hours.
The fire was under control and extinguished, Goldstein told reporters.
Goldstein said he believed the sprinkler system in the building is limited to stairwells. There are no sprinklers in the apartments or hallways.
“The fire alarm was clearly active and working when our crews were here,” the chief said.
Residents were evacuated to a hotel across the street. Some were barefoot and still wearing pajamas in the hotel lobby immediately after the fire, WUSA reported.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The building is 15 stories, with 14 levels of occupancy, Goldstein said. There are roughly 450 apartments in two connected buildings, with about 1,300 residents.