Five residents and four fighters were injured while around 60 people were displaced after a massive hotel fire spread to two other buildings in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Thursday.
The five-alarm fire started at a 24-unit hotel on South Georgia Avenue around 7:45 a.m. and quickly spread to two other buildings nearby.
Viewer video, footage from SkyForce10, and video posted on social media show firefighters working to control the fire as flames and smoke rise from the building.
Antonio Massallo, a resident of one of the buildings, told NBC10 he was on his way home from his job at a casino when he saw the smoke.
"I see the smoke and I say, 'Oh my God. I hope it's not my place.' But you know what? It was," Massallo said.
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Another resident, Shydia Black, described the fire as the worst thing she had ever seen.
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"People were jumping out of buildings," she said. "The fire just bursting out of everywhere. Me screaming, trying to get my children."
Five residents and four firefighters were injured. Three of the firefighters suffered heat exhaustion while the fourth firefighter injured his ankle.
Three of the injured civilians were taken to a local hospital while two others were airlifted to the Crozer-Chester Medical Center to be treated for burns.
"There were several injured people already in the streets," Atlantic City Fire Chief Scott Evans said. "There were people hanging out of windows on the third and fourth floor. So firefighters on arrival quickly went into rescue mode, raising ladders."
Firefighters placed the fire under control around 1:10 p.m. Around 60 people in all were displaced.
"We don't know where we're going to go," Black said.
The displaced residents -- including international students who are working at the Jersey Shore during the summer -- were told to go to the Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall Parking Garage. The Red Cross is currently assisting those residents.
"The city works with some of their departments," Jim Eden of the American Red Cross said. "They found lodging and housing for all these people. Some of them are offshore."
Officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire.
