Local News in Brief : Rescuers Pull Woman From Burning Room
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A 56-year-old Burbank woman was rescued from her smoke-filled apartment early Tuesday by a policeman and an apartment manager, authorities said.
Helen Biggs was inside her first-floor apartment on East Providencia Avenue when the fire started in a couch that had been placed too close to a furnace, Burbank Fire Department Battalion Chief M. W. Johnson said.
Apartment manager Ronnie Wolford broke down the door and was fighting the fire with a garden hose when police arrived, he said.
With the apartment heavily engulfed in smoke and flames, Officer Jay Jette, 28, crawled inside on his stomach and found Biggs lying on the floor next to the couch, Police Sgt. Rick Madrid said.
Jette pulled Biggs out of the apartment before being nearly overcome by smoke himself, Madrid said.
Jette was treated for smoke inhalation at St. Joseph Medical Center and released. Biggs was being treated for smoke inhalation and first- and second-degree burns on her upper body and hands at County-USC Medical Center, police said.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control in about 10 minutes. Damage, contained to the single apartment, was estimated at $5,500, Johnson said.
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