Residents displaced from Montgomery County apartment following fire

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. (WPVI) - - Families in Montgomery County are out of their homes on Saturday night, following an apartment fire in Bridgeport. Four residents and two officers were also injured.

First responders arrived to smoke and flames pouring from the Bridgeport Suites Apartments around 1:30 a.m., Saturday morning.

"There was just flames shooting all out of the building maybe like 5 6 feet up you could see like everything burning through the balcony so very scary," said Scarlett Rivera-Montes, a resident. Residents darted out of this apartment complex in Bridgeport, Montgomery County, as flames and smoke spread.
"It was intense these are concrete shoe boxes so all the force of the fire was rushing out through the balcony and it was shooting," said David Rickert, a resident.

Firefighters were called to the 300 block of West 3rd Street at the Bridgeport Suites apartment building just before 1:30 Saturday morning. Firefighters made several rescues. While most residents made it out safely, some required treatment.
"We transported four residents from the property and two police officers with smoke inhalation for evaluation," said Steve Wanczyk, Fire Chief of Bridgeport Fire Department. The entire 139-unit building was evacuated.

"One unit was involved but smoke filled the whole building so it was a situation where we had to get people out because of the smoke condition, not the fire condition," said Wanczyk. The Red Cross has set up a temporary shelter at Bridgeport Borough Hall for those who have been displaced. Montgomery County Emergency Services is also assisting, as crews have a lot of work to do before residents can return.

"The lobby is all covered with soot all over the walls and things like that the floors are all tore up at this point so they're replacing that," said Micah Buckman, a resident. Today some residents went back inside to grab some belongings.

"The walls are definitely black and things like that when you pick something off of let's say a table in your apartment you can see a ring of where that was and all the soot around," said Buckman.

Crews say they were able to rescue a few cats too. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.