Firefighters rescue 13 people from residential building fire in New Taipei City
Firefighters carried babies and elderly people out of a building after a fire in Banqiao District affected 17 households this morning, April 17.
A total of 34 people were evacuated from the six-storey building, of whom 13 required rescue after being trapped.
One family was trapped for 20 minutes until firefighters finally reached them, and helped carry 2 infants out of the apartment.
Ten of the residents were sent to hospital for precautionary check-ups and treatment for light injuries.
Firefighters responded to reports at 7:11am, and the fire was extinguished within 22 minutes, according to a fire chief quoted in an ET Today report.
Fortunately, the fire was contained to the living room of a second-floor apartment and did not spread to other residences. However, the fire produced intense smoke that filled the stairwell of the building.
After a picture of a firefighter carrying a baby went viral on social media, EBC News identified him as 34-year-old Chen Yi-min (陳佾民). Chen, a father of two children 5 and 7 years old said that he was just doing his job, and it was no big deal.
Chen said that the fire produced intense smoke, and that he and his colleagues donned breathing apparatus to search the third floor. The firefighters then received communications that a family were trapped on the 4th floor.
Chen and his colleagues located 2 adults and a pair of 6-month-old twin infants and assisted them in leaving the building.
Sources: ET Today, China Times, EBC News.
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