Late Friday morning, Easton City Fire Department was dispatched to 462 Northampton Street for a building fire. Companies were advised it was an electrical fire in the basement. Crews arrived and stretched to the basement and found a fire. They quickly got water on the fire.
However, command reported to evacuate the basement because there was fire blowing out windows above them. The fire extended vertically.
The second alarm was struck. Exterior crews started finding residents of the Hotel Hampton hanging out windows in the back of the building and started search and rescues on numerous floors. The third alarm was transmitted.
While searching the third floor, a firefighter radioed that he was running out of air and needed out of the building. He was at a third floor window. Firefighters located that window and through a ground ladder to him. He exited the building on his own but on the way down the ladder he got tangled up on wires and fell approximately 20 feet to the ground seriously injuring himself. He is in the ICU of the hospital.
The fire burned out of control well into the afternoon. Fire crews were still there Saturday morning. A demolition company was on site to take down the building.
Video by NVP
