More than 30 displaced by fire at Green Bay apartment building, young children had to be rescued

GREEN BAY — More than 30 people were displaced after a fire early Sunday morning, January 3rd at an apartment building in Green Bay.

It happened at Valley Green Apartments on Shawano Avenue.

Terry Cantu works as a caregiver for people at the apartments. She captured video of the fire via her cell phone.

"Somebody came into my office and said 'call for fire. The front building's on fire.' I came out here and there was flames shooting out of the window. And before I knew it, the whole building was just chaos," said Cantu.

Firefighters say when they arrived, people were in trouble.

"They were hanging out of the windows on the backside. Our firefighters were able to put up ladders and pull them down the ladders," said Lt. Nick Craig with the Green Bay Metro Fire Department. "We had a total of seven people that were pulled down by the ladder. Two children under the age of a year."

Cantu says her video shows a firefighter rescuing one of the infants.

"That was kind of scary," she said.

And that's not all.

"They were doing a search of the second floor. They found somebody sleeping in bed. They took that person out of the window in the front of the building," said Craig.

Craig says a dog was rescued down the ladder too.

Eight people were treated for minor injuries.

Fire officials say the blaze likely started in the bedroom of the corner apartment. They say there were two children ages 10 and 14 in that apartment where the fire is believed to have started.

Craig says the fire could have been much worse.

"It was actually an excellent stop. Basically the majority of the damage to this building is confined to two units, or two apartment units throughout. But actually a quick stop, and great rescue," he said.

The American Red Cross is helping those displaced by the fire. A shelter has been set up at Green Bay West High School.

Damage to the apartments is estimated to be $200,000.