7 people in the hospital after Princeton apartment building fire – WQAD
PRINCETON, Ill. — UPDATE (Feb. 9): The Princeton Police Department in a statement Wednesday, Feb. 9 named the officer injured in the Feb. 7 apartment fire.
Sgt. Dan Jaeger, while catching the apartment occupants who jumped from the roof of the burning building, sustained a serious injury to his leg and broke it in multiple places, according to police.
Jaeger was transported to a local hospital, where he was treated for his injuries.
The police department on Facebook commended Jaeger and officer Dustin Schaill for their heroic efforts in rescuing the apartment residents from the roof.
ORIGINAL (Feb. 7): Six people are in the hospital after being trapped in or rescuing people from a burning apartment building early Monday morning, Feb. 7 in Princeton, Illinois.
According to the Princeton Fire Department, crews responded at about 1:05 a.m. to an apartment building in the 600 block of East Peru Street after reports of a fire with people trapped inside.
Firefighters arrived to find flames coming out of a front door, as well as a window on the side. There was also one person waiting on the roof.
Fire crews helped that person down to safety, and Princeton police officers helped three others escape from the roof as well.
Six people, as well as one of the officers, were sent to the hospital for treatment. Further information about their conditions is unavailable.
The blaze was eventually extinguished, but not before it caused heavy fire and smoke damage to two of the building’s four units. The other two suffered more minor damage. Nine people were displaced by the fire.
The cause of the fire unknown as of Monday.
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