Neighbors rush to help one another when Beaver Co. apartment catches fire

NEW BRIGHTON, Pa. — Neighbors rushed to help one another when a room in an apartment building in Beaver County caught fire Saturday afternoon.

New Brighton Fire Department Chief Jeffery Bolland said a room in the Mulberry Apartments in New Brighton caught fire just before 4 p.m. after Bolland believes a mattress caught fire from someone smoking in bed.

"Initial indication is that's where the fire would have started, possibly with someone smoking in bed," said Bolland. “"At this time, I'm going to say, yes, it is suspicious."

Two people inside were trapped until Boyd Lambert, who was working on his deck with his son, saw smoke, got his ladder and climbed inside to save them.

"He came over to the window. He was throwing up and sick. I tried to grab him, and he said, 'I don't want to come out.' I said, 'No, you're coming out,'" said Lambert.

Richard Bennett also jumped into action, knocking on his neighbors’ doors.

"My girlfriend got two people out down here. I started rapping on the doors upstairs," said Bennett. “You gotta do what you gotta do. You save a life, someday somebody's going to save your life."

No one was seriously injured.

Some apartments had water damage.

The second-floor apartment that caught fire was destroyed, but the Red Cross is helping those who lived there.

WPXI