By Greg Welter
Chico Enterprise-Record
CHICO, Calif. — Cory Ferm, the manager at Chico Commons Apartments on Amanda Way, said he was in the right place at the right time to help a tenant injured Tuesday in an explosion.
“I was walking by the apartment and heard the smoke alarm going off,” Ferm said.
He looked in a window of the lower floor apartment and saw flames.
Entering the apartment, Ferm found tenant Jacqueline O’Sullivan screaming for help.
On oxygen and smoking at the time, Chico fire officials said there was an explosion which badly burned O’Sullivan over much of her upper body. Ferm said he believes he reached the woman within seconds of the explosion and was able to quickly put the flames out.
O’Sullivan was rushed to Enloe Medical Center, where she was stabilized and then transported to the burn unit at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.
Officials there said Thursday she was in fair condition.
Ferm said the woman was planning to move to an assisted living facility in December.
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