A sixty-year-old man was severely injured Friday morning when a fire broke out on the third floor of a Pardes Hanna apartment building.
Seven other people were suffered mild injuries from smoke inhalation. Four of the victims were treated by Magen David Adom (MDA) teams and evacuated to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera.
Firefighting forces operated at the scene to gain control of the flames and evacuate those who were trapped inside the building.
EMTs Ehud Amiton and Idan Almaliah recalled: "We were called to an incident of a fire in a populated building, with a suspicion of a large number of victims. We arrived at the scene with a large number of ambulances, mobile ICUs, motorcycles, and emergency vehicles. When we arrived at the scene, we saw an apartment going up in flames and smoke encompassing the stairwell and preventing people from exiting."
"Evacuated from the building were victims who suffered signs of smoke inhalation. They were brought out one after the other and transferred to ambulances for treatment and evacuation. A man of about 60 who was unconscious and suffered severe smoke inhalation was sedated and artificially respirated, and evacuated in a mobile ICU unit, while providing advanced medical treatment. The other victims had been lightly injured and were evacuated to hospitals conscious and suffering from smoke inhalation."