Firefighters used ladders to rescue three people trapped on the second floor of a burning apartment Wednesday morning in southeast Fresno. The two-alarm blaze broke out in a ground-floor unit at the complex in the 2900 block of East Nevada Avenue, near First and Tulare streets, about 8:30 a.m.

Flames blew out a window of the apartment and fire spread toward the units upstairs, Fire Department spokesman Koby Johns said.

Heavy black smoke prevented upstairs residents from using a common stairway to get out of the building, so they threw a mattress out a window and were preparing to jump about 15 feet to the ground. Fortunately, Johns said, firefighters arrived within two minutes from a nearby station and put up ladders to help them down.

One person was taken to Community Regional Medical Center to be treated for smoke inhalation.

About 40 firefighters went to the blaze. At least one ground floor unit was destroyed. The cause is under investigation.