A woman went into cardiac arrest from smoke inhalation when she became trapped during a fire at a home in San Francisco’s Parkside neighborhood early Saturday morning, a fire spokeswoman said today.
The resident, a woman in her 70s, was in the home in the 2200 block of 19th Avenue when the one-alarm fire began in the kitchen, according to San Francisco fire spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge.
Talmadge said an alarm monitoring company reported the incident to the San Francisco Fire Department at 2:26 a.m. Saturday after smoke was detected inside the two-story home.
Firefighters also received a call from a person reporting that a large amount of smoke could be seen coming from the home.
Upon arrival, firefighters saw smoke coming from the roof of the residence and were told by a person at the scene that a woman was still inside the home.
Talmadge said the blaze had trapped the resident in an upstairs room and that smoke inhalation caused her to have a heart attack.
Firefighters conducted a search of the residence and located the woman inside. Firefighters carried her out of the home to an ambulance and she was then transported to University of California at San Francisco Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
Talmadge said fire officials did not immediately have an update today on her condition.
A person suffering from a minor injury in the fire was transported to a hospital as well, Talmadge said.
Firefighters ventilated the roof over the area where the blaze began and got water on the fire at 2:39 a.m. Crews contained the flames to the kitchen and had the blaze under control at 2:58 a.m., according to Talmadge.
She said the fire appears to have started in the refrigerator and was caused by the failure of electrical equipment.
Hannah Albarazi, Bay City News
