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St. Louis firefighters pull trapped woman from burning home

Firefighters crawled into a first-floor window to rescue the woman, who could be heard screaming for help

ST. LOUIS — Two St. Louis firefighters rescued a woman trapped in a burning home in St. Louis' Mount Pleasant neighborhood early Friday morning.

St. Louis Fire Capt. Garon Mosby said that at around 2 a.m. several calls came in for a house fire on the 4600 block of Michigan Avenue. One of the calls was from a panicked woman who told 911 operators that she was trapped in the bathroom of the burning home. She was told to put a wet towel under the door and keep a wet rag over her face until rescuers arrived.

The first firefighters to arrive didn't have a charged hose and had to climb through a first-floor window to get to the woman, who could be heard screaming for help, Mosby said. They pulled her out the same window they came in through and handed her off to other first responders before returning to fight the fire. 

She was taken to an area hospital in "very serious condition" due to smoke inhalation, Mosby said. A man was also able to escape and was transported with non-life-threatening injuries, and a dog was rescued.

Carrol Raisch said she is a friend and neighbor of the woman who was rescued. She watched as firefighters broke out the window to get inside. "They were banging and banging and banging and banging. It's a frame house, and I mean, it was on fire," Raisch said.

"Oh my God, it was scary, it's really scary. Imagine that they could have been in there burning, because they were in there. The flames were everywhere."

The fire mostly started on the exterior of the home and traveled inside, the department said. It is unclear what started the fire.

This is a developing story. It will be updated as more information becomes available.

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