By Gene Warner
The Buffalo News
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo firefighters faced a lot of challenges when they responded to a porch fire that quickly extended into a home in the city’s East Ferry-Moselle area early Tuesday morning.
The blaze was blowing across the alleyway between the home at 576 Goodyear Ave. and the house next door. A car in that driveway had caught fire. And electrical lines were popping from above.
Then a neighbor told an Engine 31 firefighter that a woman was trapped inside a rear window in the back of the house.
“She was behind the wall of fire that was blocking any access to the rear of the building,” Fire Division Chief John Mogavero said later Tuesday.
Firefighter Dwayne Cathcart, from Ladder 14, had to walk around the home next door to reach the rear window of the home at 576 Goodyear.
“He discovered the woman hanging out the window,” Mogavero said. “He got her out the window and escorted her out of harm’s way.”
Authorities weren’t sure whether the woman may have been disoriented by the smoke, preventing her from fleeing from the home.
The pregnant woman, Antoinette Ingram, was taken to Erie County Medical Center for treatment of smoke inhalation.
Firefighters responded to a 2:20 a.m. alarm at 576 Goodyear. Damage was estimated at $45,000. Another $5,000 exposure damage was reported next door at 580 Goodyear.
The Red Cross was called to assist two adults routed by the blaze. The cause of the suspicious fire remains under investigation, and Buffalo fire investigators were using K-9 dogs in a search for a possible accelerant.
Copyright 2010 The Buffalo News
All Rights Reserved