MINNEAPOLIS — Charred remains are what's left of a half-dozen apartments after a fire ripped through a complex along Boone Avenue in New Hope Sunday morning.
Eric Bronson captured the scene on his phone just after 7:30 a.m.
"I hear people yelling 'there's kids inside the apartment,'" Bronson said. "Dropped everything in my hand, jumped over the railing and then went inside there and started pulling people out of the fire."
Bronson and a few other people at the apartment rescued several people, including children, and a few elderly adults.
"You couldn't see anything so you just had to feel around with your arms and yell, and call out names," he said.
West Metro Rescue Fire Chief Sarah Larson said what started as an appliance fire in one unit spread to at least six others. As of now, Larson said the fire appears to have started accidentally.
Everyone survived, but one person was sent to a hospital. Several others were treated on scene, according to Larson.
"It was very labor intensive. We needed to check every unit and every floor and make sure everybody was out safely," Larson said.
For Bronson, he said it was his fight-or-flight instincts that kicked in Sunday morning.
"It was either jump in there and do that, or sit there and hear people scream," he said.
Larson said actions like these are commendable.
"People are heroes and they come out and do things that they need to do when it's important, and that's the incredible part about our society," Larson said.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist: