By LISA BACKUS
Staff writer

NEW BRITAIN — City firefighters pulled nearly a dozen residents from second-story windows early Friday during a three-alarm blaze that filled the Springwood Apartments on Allen Street with thick smoke.
Ahmed Alqatabi was awakened from a sound sleep around 2:45 a.m. to shouts of ‘fire!’ as black smoke filled the hallway of his son’s second-floor unit at 176 Allen St.
“When you opened the door, there was too much smoke to go out into the hallway,” he said. “My wife was frightened. We waited at the windows and they came and got us.”
Alqatabi and his wife were staying in the apartment for a few weeks with his son and daughter-in-law and their five children. All got out safely while being pulled from the building by city firefighters using ladder trucks.“People couldn’t get out through the hallway because the smoke was so thick,” Fire Lt. Mike Berry said. “They were yelling for help at the windows, some were jumping to the ground.”
None of the residents were hurt, but four firefighters received minor injuries while battling the blaze. Berry said residents had left the building’s fire doors open allowing the smoke to travel through the whole structure.
“The fire doors in the center of the building were open when all of them should have been closed,” Berry said. “We encourage people to make sure the fire doors are closed at all times because it would have kept the smoke at bay if the doors had been closed.”
The cause of the blaze, which displaced more than 100 people overnight from the 24-unit building, is being investigated by city police, the city fire marshal’s office and the state fire marshal’s office. As of 10 a.m., city fire inspector Bryan Anderson was still investigating and waiting for a canine with the state fire marshal’s office to arrive to search the building. 
Firefighters arrived in the early morning to find the right stairwell of the 24-unit building, which is part of a several-building complex, totally engulfed in flames while thick smoke was coming from the left stairwell.
All city fire companies, including three dozen firefighters, responded to the scene and tried to make order out of chaos as dozens of residents were still streaming out of the building. Firefighters from East Hartford, West Hartford and Hartford provided mutual aid by manning city stations.
“People were rolling out of the building,” Berry said. “Luckily no one was injured. People were still standing around hours later to watch what was going on in the hopes of getting back in to get some of their belongings.”
The property manager of the complex was able to find apartments for most of the families who were displaced and the New Britain Senior Center was opened as a shelter but few needed a place to stay, Berry said. 
Mayor Timothy Stewart, who is a former city fire inspector, arrived to survey the damage and check on residents about 11 a.m.
“I responded to a fire in this building about 10 years ago,” he said as he pointed to the building adjacent to the blaze. “It turned out to be a candle in a bedroom. There is a large, dense population at this site and I wanted to check it out. The good news is that there were no serious injuries. Things can always be rebuilt.”
Lisa Backus can be reached at lbackus@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 223.