Updated 2:15 p.m. Wednesday
Three people were rescued from an Outer Sunset house fire early Wednesday, including one person who was in critical condition after jumping out of a window to escape the flames, according to fire officials.
The woman who jumped out of a third-floor backyard-facing window was stable at a hospital, fire officials said. Two others were taken to hospitals for further evaluation of their injuries.
One cat that was also rescued from the home was treated by paramedics but died of its injuries. A second lost during the blaze remains missing.
The two-alarm fire broke out in a three-story home on the 1300 block of 47th Avenue just after 6 a.m., then quickly spread to the homes to its right and left.
San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Jonathan Baxter told reporters at the scene that one of the residents in the home where the fire originated called 911 after a smoke detector alerted them of the blaze.
He said officers could hear “screaming for help and windows breaking” in the background of the call.
“In that short time period, one person jumped from a window on the third floor for safety, two other people exited the building,” he continued.
Five people were displaced from multiple homes, according to San Francisco police spokesperson Samuel Menchaca.
Fire crews quickly extinguished the flames ripping through the neighboring homes, containing the blaze to the home where the fire originated by 7 a.m.
San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said that house’s wood balloon framing allowed the fire to grow quickly and posed challenges for containment.
Firefighters shifted to a defensive firefighting strategy outside the home, while trying to proactively extinguish the flames inside before deeming the fire under control about an hour later.
Menchaca said the residents’ quick response to the fire helped ensure they all made it out of their homes safely.
“One of the residents was prepared, heard their functioning smoke detector go off and had a plan to get outside the house,” he said.
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