INDIANAPOLIS — A firefighter with the Indianapolis Fire Department was seriously injured Tuesday morning while batting a residence fire in Beech Grove.
IFD Battalion Chief Rita Reith said the firefighter was transported to Methodist Hospital in serious but stable condition after he fell from the roof over a porch at a house near the corner of South 4th Avenue and Alton Street.
A second firefighter suffered minor scrapes in another incident at the house where a fire was reported at about 6 a.m.
Eight residents who lived in five apartment units at the house have been accounted for, and none were injured. One dog has not been found. Reith said IFD Victims Assistance will work with the Red Cross to find shelter for the displaced residents.
Reith said people living in a basement apartment told firefighters they woke up to fire and smoke in their apartment. They attempted to extinguish the fire and evacuated when they could not.
People living upstairs told firefighters they heard smoke alarms, saw smoke and evacuated.
Reith said the building is a total loss and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
