A fire at a 26-story apartment building in Ankara, Turkey, killed three people, including a three-and-a-half-month-old baby, local media said, according to the AP report.
The blaze broke out on the fourth floor at around 10:00 p.m. local time on Saturday night and quickly spread through the building. Firefighters needed four hours to bring it under control, the AP said, citing the state-run Anadolu Agency.
The scale of the emergency went beyond the three deaths. Anadolu also reported that 39 people suffered light smoke inhalation, including seven firefighters, while paramedics treated 26 people at the scene and 20 were hospitalized. One of those admitted was reported to be in critical condition.
Apartment fires in tall residential buildings can escalate quickly, especially when flames spread before crews are able to reach upper floors. The AP report did not identify the cause of the fire in the supplied excerpt, and it did not say whether residents were evacuated before the fire was extinguished.
The baby’s death gives the incident a particularly severe human toll and highlights how quickly a building fire can turn fatal for vulnerable residents. The report did not provide the names of the victims.
Ankara’s emergency response appears to have contained the blaze within a few hours, but not before the fire caused deaths, smoke exposure and hospitalizations. The AP account shows a major urban fire that was contained only after significant damage and loss of life.
The incident also left firefighters among those affected, which suggests a difficult and hazardous response. Even after suppression, the scale of smoke inhalation and hospital admissions shows the consequences extended well beyond the immediate victims.
The fire in Ankara is especially striking because it affected a high-rise residential block, where vertical spread can turn a single-floor blaze into a building-wide emergency. The AP report shows that even with firefighters on scene for four hours, the incident still produced deaths, smoke inhalation and hospitalizations. That combination usually points to both rapid fire growth and a difficult evacuation environment.
The number of people treated for smoke inhalation, including firefighters, suggests the emergency strained responders as well as residents. The report does not provide a cause, but it does show how a late-night residential fire can produce cascading consequences long after the flames are brought under control.
The scale of the response is another reason the fire stands out: 39 people had smoke inhalation, seven of them firefighters, which means the incident stretched emergency resources beyond the immediate residential block. The AP report does not say whether the building had special fire-safety features or evacuation problems, but the casualty pattern alone makes clear that this was a serious high-rise emergency.
