Huge Blaze Consumes Apartment Building While Families Asleep—Then Frantic Neighbors Rush In

A swift calamity struck residents of an apartment building in North Hollywood in the middle of the night on Wednesday, April 11.

Families were apparently still sleeping while a massive fire was eating through the building on Lankershim Boulevard near Sherman Way.

(Screenshot via Fox - 5 NY via VideoElephant)

The intersection of Lankershim Boulevard and Sherman Way in North Hollywood, Calif. (Screenshot via Google Maps)

Neighbors rushed in, trying to alert the residents.

“Wake up! Wake up!” one man yelled, banging on the doors.

“Get out! Get out!” another shouted.

(Screenshot via Fox - 5 NY via VideoElephant)

It was not clear what caused the fire, but it was believed to start at a nearby homeless encampment, fire officials told FOX 11.

Last year a nearby apartment building caught fire displacing 31—also in the middle of the night, KTLA reported.

This time, somebody at the scene captured the stirring moments on camera, as the residents started to walk out of their apartments, sometimes in their underwear, looking confused and scared.

(Screenshot via Fox - 5 NY via VideoElephant)

Crews arrived on scene around 1:15 a.m., facing a “heavy volume of fire,” said Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Daniel Curr, according to KTLA.

Before long, 87 firefighters were on scene. It took them some 38 minutes to put out the flames. Four apartment units were heavily damaged.

In the end, after the quick action of the neighbors helping with the evacuation, three people ended up injured.

A 57-year-old man suffered burns and a 30-year-old woman was hurt by smoke inhalation. Both were taken to a local hospital, according to Amy Bastman of the Los Angeles Fire Department, though their conditions were not immediately reported.

Another person suffered minor burns but was not hospitalized, authorities said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

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