ANDERSON — A fire consumed the second story of a Hoosier Woods apartment building Sunday afternoon, displacing 48 residents.

Anderson firefighters arrived on scene at 3905 Winner’s Circle after receiving the dispatch at 5:02 p.m. and immediately began battling the rapidly-spreading fire from the sky, showering the flames with water from two ladder trucks.

All 16 residents home at the time of the fire were safely escorted outdoors by firefighters and neighbors who knocked on doors and knocked down doors, warning inhabitants about the fire above.

Neighbors on the scene said they first noticed small puffs of smoke that soon turned into flames and engulfed the roof of the building minutes later.

Anderson resident Brian Ross, 20, noticed the smoke while standing on the porch at a nearby apartment building and soon found himself in the burning building searching for children.

According to Ross, a woman ran from the burning building screaming and crying. “We ran over here and this lady was crying, saying she had two babies locked inside.”

Without a second thought, Ross said he rushed to the apartment. Once inside, Ross could smell smoke filling the room. “I had to kick in the door and I got the baby out of the shower and put a towel around her.”

Snatching the unidentified toddler from the shower, Ross then rushed into an adjacent room and scooped up an infant on a breathing machine.

With a child in each arm, Ross ran outside while smoke filled the room as another good Samaritan saved the family’s dog.

The Herald Bulletin was unable to identify the family saved by Ross at press time.

Ross and his friend, Jake Hudson, then ran from apartment to apartment knocking on doors to alert neighbors of the growing fire in the roof.

Ross, who said he wants to become a volunteer firefighter, said Sunday’s events answered a question for him. Everyone always wonders if they will go into a burning building, he said.

Now, he knows.

Amanda Bronnenberg, 27, and her roommates live in a building near the site of the fire and said she was among the first to notice the fire.

“I was actually the one that called 911,” Bronnenberg said.