Woman in critical condition after fire in Worcester

A woman rescued from a fire was rushed to the hospital with burns.

Neighbor Ray Gibbs said he heard the fire alarm as he walked down the steps of the apartment building on Kendrick Avenue just before 11 a.m.

"She said, 'help. I'm on fire. I've broken my leg,'" he said.

Gibbs suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, but rushed to help anyway.

"I ripped the screen out with my fingertips, opened the window and climbed through. She was laying there on the floor," he said.

Gibbs said the woman uses an oxygen tank to breath and he saw one next to her on fire. He spotted several other oxygen tanks and raced to get them outside of the building to avoid a potential explosion.

He said started having difficulty breathing and could not go back in to rescue her.  Other neighbors tried to save her, including a woman who is six months pregnant, but they were turned back by the heavy smoke.

By that time, firefighters had arrived and rescued the woman.

Deputy Fire Chief John Sullivan said she was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with extensive burns.

Gibbs said the woman sometimes smokes but firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire and if the oxygen tanks played a role.

Other neighbors tried to rescue her from the burning apartment, including Amanda Hutchinson, who is six months pregnant, but they were turned back by the heavy smoke.

"I tried to pull her out, I couldn't do it," said Hutchinson. "And then I just left, the smoke was just too much for me. There were other bystanders coming, I was like 'help her, help her.'"

Another neighbor, Jill Nadeau, ran across the street to help out until firefighters arrived.

"I saw the woman on the floor, thw oxygen tank blew up the side of her face, (there was) light smoke, so me and a couple of other people tried to go in through the window," said Nadeau.

Cox Media Group