PHOENIX — Ten people are out of their homes ahead of Christmas after an apartment fire broke out Tuesday morning in central Phoenix.
Phoenix fire officials say they were called just after 9 a.m. to the area near 19th and Glendale Avenues for a reported apartment fire.
When firefighters arrived, they found smoke and flames coming from multiple units.
First responders were able to clear the building, and only one woman was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
The woman is reportedly in stable condition.
Four apartments suffered fire and smoke damage, according to fire officials.
“I was actually going to go back to sleep, and I heard something crackling,” said Sylvia Ruiz, who has been displaced from her apartment.
That crackling came from a fire outside Ruiz’s doorstep on the second floor.
“Fire was shooting all in my front door,” said Ruiz.
Ruiz grabbed her dog, ran to the back of her apartment and started yelling out her window for help.
“A bunch of maintenance men that are over there, they just said jump, so I jumped, and they saved me,” said Ruiz.
“Our crisis response team that has responded, they’re going to make sure that all these folks have a place to stay tonight. Obviously, it’s Christmas Eve,” said Phoenix Fire Department Spokesperson Captain Scott Douglas.
It's not clear what started the fire, but it is being investigated.
