Long Beach officers describe pulling residents from burning building

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Three Long Beach police officers say they were not thinking of their own safety when they helped people trapped in a burning apartment building.

The blaze broke out around 2 a.m. Thursday at the Fairmont Apartments in the 400 block of Chestnut Avenue. The officers were flagged down by a resident who alerted them of the fire.

"When we got there, there was obviously a lot of people screaming. It was smoke all in the alley, there were flames coming out of the window," said Officer Nicholas Dyer.

Dyer was one of three officers with the Long Beach Police Department who were first to arrive on the scene. They jumped into action when they heard the screams for help.

"We kind of ran around the flames and found our fellow officer at the window with two people trapped inside the building," said Officer Robert Paul.

Standing in their way were metal bars covering the windows. With a man and woman trapped inside, the officers had to improvise.

"I tried to pull the bars off but was unable to do so. I started breaking the window out and luckily found a kind of a large 4-by-4 post nearby," described Officer Cory Lapworth. "I was able to wedge that in and eventually break the security bars free."

With the bars removed, the man and woman were pulled from the flames. Minutes later, firefighters were on scene.

All three officers insist that they're not heroes and that it was just part of the job. They admit it's not often they get this close to a fire, but they were not worried about their own safety.

"At that point, you don't really think about it. You just kind of have to get it done," Dyer said.

The victims were rushed to the hospital with severe burns, but firefighters said it could have been worse had it not been for the fast response and the quick thinking of those three Long Beach cops who got there first.