Multiple people injured in morning motel fire in Seattle

SEATTLE - Several people were hurt Monday morning - some critically - when they tried to ecsape a fire in a multi-story motel that witnesses say sent people jumping from second-floor windows. 

Seattle Fire responded to the fire in the 2400 block of Aurora Avenue North in the Queen Anne neighborhood about 5 a.m. Monday. Not long after they arrived they called for a second alarm and extra help with a "mass casualty incident," the fire department says. 

A man who was staying at the motel tells Q13 News that he heard some rumbling coming through the building. He thought it was an earthquake at first, but then he saw flames shooting out of the corner in the hallway.

The man says he jumped out of a second floor windsow, and several other people followed suit. 

He says he heard people screaming, and someone broke an ankle. Firefighters said six people were injured, three of them critically, but a Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman says the hospital is treating four people in critical condition. 

Aurora Avenue North (SR-99) was closed in both directions, creating more headaches for the morning commute. The northbound lanes reopened about 7:30 a.m., but firefighters say the southbound lanes would stay closed for several hours.