A woman is recovering from second-degree burns after being rescued from a balcony of a burning apartment in Glendale, California. During the fire, a dog and a cat have also been rescued, revived and is presently doing great, officials said.
The fire started around 3:30 a.m. in an apartment near 59th Avenue and Camelback Road, as reported by Fox10. At 4:00 a.m., the firefighters have headed towards the scene and were welcomed with a woman screaming from the apartment's second-floor.
The authorities said that the moment they arrived, the first-floor had already enveloped with flames making it impossible to save the woman by passing right through it, so they decided to use a ladder. The woman suffered second degree burns, non-life threatening injuries and smoke inhalation. Presently, she's doing well and already gaining strength.
"We had a first alarm apartment fire near 50th Avenue and Camelback Road," said Ron Hart, a Glendale Fire Department Public Information Officer. "We had a fire that started in the tenant occupancy on the bottom floor and extended up into the second floor, where that fire trapped the woman on her balcony. She had to essentially be rescued by firefighters with a ladder."
Aside from the woman, the firefighters also saved a dog which was trapped in the burning apartment. They resuscitated the dog using a FIDO bag. Another cat was also found during the incident. Both of these pets are already doing great.
As to the authorities, the incident might have been prevented if only a smoke detector was present in the apartment. "Apparently, this occupancy didn't have a smoke detector on board, so we always encourage smoke detectors," Hart said.
Meanwhile, the fire caused heavy damages on the apartments leaving four people homeless. Also, as posted by Ktar, cause of the fire is still under investigation.
