At least five people were rescued and seven were injured in a fire Friday morning in San Francisco, firefighters said.
The blaze was reported at a multi-unit building on 10 Inca Lane in the city's Fillmore District. Flames were contained at around 11:50 a.m.
The San Francisco Fire Department said the blaze took place on the second and third floors of the building. Hospitals in the area were placed on alert for the possibility of more patients.
Two of the people rescued are in critical condition, and another has minor injuries, firefighters said.
The Red Cross is assisting the 18 people displaced.
As flames started burning through the co-op building next to Rosa Park Elementary School, second grade teacher Cecily Ina-Lee was on recess duty and spotted the smoke.
“I yelled for my amazing coworkers to clear the yard and away from the fire. I called 911,” she said.
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After teachers made sure their kids were safe, they ran out of the school yard and over to the building to try and get people inside to safety.
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“I ran inside this building where the fire first started here, I actually seen the fire, it was burning heavy on the roof,” said first grade teacher Vincent Reyes
As Reyes searched for people to guide out of the burning building, his colleagues knocked on windows and pulled down fire escapes for people in the rest of the complex.
“People from the school came over and were yelling at us cause my window was open and I could see them. They said, there's a fire, and that's when I got my dog and ran outside,” David Mould said.
If it wasn't for the quick reaction of the teachers at rosa parks elementary school nearby, people living in the building say it could have been much worse.
“Our fear was just, this is more our community, these are families, I saw a lot of familiar faces,” said Ina-Lee.
The teachers had some applause from neighbors as they headed back to class to finish out the school day.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
