LOS ANGELES, CA — Someone may have deliberately set a Wilshire Boulevard high-rise fire Wednesday that injured eight people and left residents clinging to the side of the building and trapped on the rooftop, according to Los Angeles Fire Department officials.

Residents trapped in the fire, which broke out in the 25-story high-rise building Wednesday morning, were poised to jump from the upper stories to escape the flames when firefighters arrived, according to the fire department. Firefighters on loudspeakers talked the residents out of jumping and used ladders and helicopters to pluck them from the rooftop and side of the building. Two 30-year-old men in the apartment where the fire started were injured and both were hospitalized, one in grave condition and the other in critical condition, according to Capt. Erik Scott of the LAFD. The man in critical condition was rescued while clinging to the outside of the building by firefighters using a ladder. The apartment the men were in sustained "significant" damage, Scott said.

Overall, eight people were injured in the blaze, authorities said. Among the injured was a 3-month-old baby, according to a fire department spokesman. Fire officials had initially reported that victims leaped from the upper stories, but crews were able to stop residents from jumping.

"We got on our public address system and let them know to stay there," added Cmdr. Armando Hogan said. "... No one jumped." An air mattress was deployed at the base of the building as a precaution. Fire crews used a ladder to rescue the man clinging to the building. In this video as it appears on the Neighbors app, smoke and flames can be seen shooting into the air as crews attempt to rescue a man clinging to the side of the building. A rescue crew had erected a ladder to reach him.

Investigators believe the fire may have been deliberately set. The building did not have a sprinkler system, according to the fire department.

"It is suspicious right now," said Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas.

"This was a very successful operation," he added. "We used unconventional tactics." The rooftop helicopter rescue is exceedingly rare in firefighting he said.

