An elderly woman is recovering from critical injuries after firefighters pulled her from a burning home on Long Island, in a rescue that crews say came down to reaching her in the final moments before the fire took over. She was found alive and carried out, but suffered serious harm in the blaze and was left in a critical condition.
According to firefighters, the woman was trapped in the basement of the home as the fire spread. Crews say they could hear her calling for help from below and managed to locate her and pull her out, getting to her in time despite the smoke and flames that were rapidly filling the house around them.
The fire broke out at a two story home in Roslyn Heights at around eleven o'clock on Sunday night. The late hour and the speed of the flames made for a dangerous situation, with the home quickly becoming engulfed as emergency crews were called to the scene to fight the blaze and search for anyone inside.
Neighbors said they could not believe how fast the fire spread. One recounted that her son called 911 while she phoned the home's owner, who rushed back, but by the time he returned the house was already consumed. In a matter of minutes, she said, the home had gone up and was all in flames.
Beyond the woman who was rescued, the fire has upended other lives in the household. Three other adults are now displaced because the home is no longer safe to live in, leaving them without a place to stay as the damage is assessed and the property is deemed too dangerous to return to.
Fire officials have not released the woman's age, saying only that she is elderly, and they have not detailed the extent of her injuries beyond describing her condition as critical. The cause of the fire remains under investigation as crews work to determine how the late night blaze started and spread so quickly.