Fire displaces six

Published 10:07 pm Monday, February 28, 2011

Firefighters work to put out the blaze at a Hill Street home Monday morning. Two occupants and a firefighter were injured during the incident.

A fire Monday morning on Hill Street sent a mother and her infant daughter, as well as a firefighter, to the hospital with injuries.

The blaze was reported just before 8 a.m. in the 300 block of Hill Street, according to Suffolk spokeswoman Debbie George. The house is on the corner of Hill Street and Finney Avenue.

“When I got up, I opened my door and all I saw was a big cloud of smoke,” said Kwmane Boone, who also lives in the two-story duplex. “The only thing I was worried about was my mom and my baby sister. They were trapped inside.”

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Boone climbed out of his bedroom window and onto the roof overhanging the porch, where he jumped to the ground. His mother and sister climbed out of a back window and onto the roof of the duplex’s other apartment, where they were rescued by a neighbor with a ladder, Boone said.

Firefighters extinguished the flames by 9:15 a.m. and prevented them from spreading to the second apartment, George said.

The three injured people were transported to Sentara Obici Hospital. The firefighter and mother were receiving treatment for smoke inhalation. The infant’s head had been hit upon exiting the window onto the roof.

“I’m glad they made it out,” Boone said of his mother and sister.

Six people, including three children, were displaced by the fire. The cause of the fire is under investigation.