Danielle Daugherty, her 2-month-old daughter and a woman who lived on the first floor escaped this morning's fire.

KARNS CITY — A woman and her 2-month-old daughter got out of their second-floor apartment uninjured this morning when a fire started on a porch outside their door.

Passersby and neighbors saw the heavy smoke just before 8 a.m. and alerted the woman, Danielle Daugherty, her infant, and a woman who lived in a downstairs apartment. The building is in the 100 block of Main Street.

At the same time, workers from the adjacent Penreco plant saw the smoke and began putting it out with fire extinguishers.

“They probably saved three lives,” said property owner Diane Mellish. “One man had to shimmy up a pole” to get to the second story fire.

Chief Chuck Barnes of the Petrolia Fire Department said the blaze started on the deck on the second floor and involved a garbage bag.

Mellish said the fire marshal has been called.

Although flames were contained to the exterior, Barnes said he expects the damage figure to reach $30,000.

In addition to Petrolia, firefighters from Chicora and Bruin assisted.