7 People Climb to Roof to Escape Seattle Fire

SEATTLE (AP/The Blaze) — Firefighters have rescued six people from the rooftop of a burning house and an elderly woman jumped to safety as a blaze destroyed a home in the Seattle neighborhood.

Seattle Fire Department Lt. Sue Stangl says that one woman in her 70's had to jump from the house's roof on to the arms of a firefighter and policeman as the flames advanced. A total of eight people escaped the fire, which destroyed the two-story house.

All residents of the home were transported to the hospital. Stangl says the elderly woman was in critical condition, but expected to recover.

Stangl says the cause of the fire is not known yet.

Eyewitness accounts from KING5 describe the blaze:

Ashley Luberts,16, was asleep when the fire started. She says her father and cousin went through the house, waking everyone up.

"He saw flames and smoke so he … instant reaction, ran up the stairs, but couldn't close the door behind him. He went into our room and … woke us all up and there were flames already starting to come up," said Luberts.

The family was unable to get out downstairs, so they scrambled out a window to the roof. They had to move a dresser to get through the window.

"The flames were coming out of the front of the house at least 8 to 10 feet," said neighbor Holly Yeager.

"When we woke up and opened the door it was just a wall of smoke," said neighbor Jim Becker. "The people were on the roof just screaming for their lives."

"We saw people on the roof, but we didn't know how many people were inside," said Yeager.

Police and firefighters were able to pull all the family members off the roof to safety.