LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say some people helped sheriff’s deputies rescue 13 people from an apartment fire in Lincoln.

Lancaster County Deputy Sheriff Barry Barnett noticed smoke and reported the fire about six blocks southwest of the state Capitol around 7:15 a.m. Wednesday. He grabbed a fire extinguisher from his vehicle and ran toward flaming stairs leading to the second-story apartment.

Two more deputies soon joined him and two nearby men. Barnett says, “We could hear people screaming for help.”

One man aided occupants in the ground-level unit while Barnett battled flames on the stairs. But that escape route was blocked when the flames flared up. Barnett says the second-floor residents then climbed out a window onto a porch roof, where they were helped down to safety.

Two occupants were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.