MANCHESTER - Two firefighters were burned and seven people rescued, including a young mother and her five-month old infant son who suffered smoke inhalation, in a four-alarm blaze Thursday morning at an Eastern Avenue condominium complex.

“It was quite the heroic effort and you can quote me on that,” said District Chief Michael Gamache.

The cause of the fire was likely the improper disposal of a cigarette, according to Fire Chief James Burkush. He said someone tossed the cigarette onto the first-floor balcony of unit 103 at 92 Eastern Ave. The unit is on the front of the attached three-story apartment building.

The American Red Cross is on the scene, assisting some of the 40 displaced from their apartment building.

About 1 a.m. today, at Mammoth Road and Bridge Street, firefighters could see flames from the burning building.

Lesli Rotondo said she was awakaned by the fire alarm and found black smoke seeping over the top of her third-floor door.

“I opened it and it was just floor-to-ceiling black smoke,” Rotondo, 26, said Thursday.

Rotondo said she locked herself in her bedroom and called 911.

From her corner window, she saw flames 10 feet away from her. On the grund below, tenants who had already escaped the raging blaze and others from a nearby building urged her to shimmy down the balcony — some screamed for her to jump — while a 911 dispatcher kept her on the line.

“It was the longest three minutes of my life,” Rotondo recounted.

Then a firefighter on a ladder emerged through the smoke and carried from her window to safety.

Nate Burdick, who lives on the second floor, had just finished packing - he's heading to the Bahamas today - when he opened a door to the stairwell and the alarm sounded.

"I thought I did something wrong," he said, and headed back to his apartment. Not seeing anything - but the alarms still going off - he headed down the stairwell and outside to see flames encasing the middle front porches of the building on all three floors.

"They were raging, raging in flames," he said. "I was the first one outside and the fire was all the way up to the third floor."

People started coming out but Burdick ran back up the stairwell to his unit to alert his roommate, Kelley Rowe, to the danger and get his dog, Max.

"We got outside and it was wild. It was like what you see in a movie. People were screaming, there was confusion, panic. People were trapped on a balcony in the back."

His roommate, who fled without any shoes, tried to climb up to the third floor balcony to help some people stranded there but only made it to the second floor. By then, Burdick said, fire trucks started rolling in.

Everyone was trying to help, directing the fire crews to where people were trapped.

"It was very strange and overwhelming," Burdick said.

When fire fighters arrived, flames were shooting 50 feet above the roof of the three-story, 24-unit building, Gamache said.

People were hanging out windows, gasping for fresh air because of the heavy smoke, while others were trapped on second and third floor balconies, waiting to be rescued, including a young couple and their infant daughter, according to Gamache. The mother and baby were taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.

Simultaneously, a dispatcher was on the phone with another woman who was trapped in her third floor apartment and unable to see because of heavy smoke. Gamache said the dispatcher instructed her to put a wet towel under the door, to try to limit the amount of smoke getting into the apartment, and then to get to a window. The dispatcher stayed on the phone with the woman, directing fire fighters to the trapped tenant who was rescued.

Gamache said the fire, which started outside in the patio area of a first floor apartment in the middle of the building, was going for a while, not unusual for a blaze in the middle of the night when people are sleeping.

Fire crews immediately went to work, with one four-man team heading into the burning building to evacuate residents, while others grabbed ground ladders and headed for tenants hanging out windows and standing on balconies. Seven people were physically trapped and firefighters used ladders to get them to safety.

Two firefighters suffered burns from heat and flames that penetrated their gear, Gamache said. Lt. Andy Parent was burned on his arms and shoulders, while firefighter Robert Plantier was burned on his face.

Some residents are complaining the fire department didn't get there soon enough, and have posted those complaints on Facebook, but Burkush said that's not the case. He said the department was not understaffed and first arrival was minutes after the blaze broke out.

The fire was reported just before 1 a.m. Gamache called in a second alarm as fire trucks headed to the blaze after reports came in of people trapped on the second and third floors.

Every available piece of fire fighting equipment was at the scene within 7 minutes of the call coming in, Gamache said, and all off-duty firefighters were called in to help. Police officers also helped in the evacuation. Mutual aid was provided by surrounding towns at the scene and to cover the city's fire stations.

Melanie Payeur, who has owned a second-floor condominium in the middle of the building for the past five years, said a fire alarm woke her about 1 a.m.. She put on some socks, grabbed a coat, wallet and keys and headed out the door. She looked back to see flames outside her sliding glass door.

"It was already roaring," she said of the fire. "I was lucky, very, very lucky." Once outside, she and a neighbor saw other residents hanging out a window on the third floor, trapped by the blaze. The neighbor called 911.

Her condominium was heavily damaged but, she said, "I'm thankful I have my life."

Like many of the others who survived the four-alarm blaze, Rotondo Thursday said they are feeling pretty special that “we are actually alive.” Like many others, she returned to the damaged building to retrieve what belongings she could.

She thanked firefighters and the American Red Cross or their help.

Payeur had high praise for the volunteers of the Greater Manchester Chapter of the American Red Cross who "got up in the middle of the night to help us. The Red Cross did a fantastic job. They were there with water and food. I can't say enough good things about them."

Gamache said the building is uninhabitable and estimated damage at $500,000.

As for Burdick, even though he is temporarily homeless, he was not about to miss out on his trip to the Bahamas. Later Thursday morning, he was in his car heading to a friend's house in Walpole, Mass., and then on to Logan International Airport to catch his flight.

"I'm going to be on the beach in 12 hours," he said. "It's wild."

In aftermath of condo fire, residents offer perspective