MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Neighbors of an elderly Raleigh woman tried but failed to free her from her unit at the Raleigh Court Townhomes after it caught on fire Monday afternoon.
The woman, whose family tells WREG is in her 70s, was eventually saved by firefighters and was taken to Regional Medical Center in critical condition with smoke inhalation, according to the Memphis Fire Department.
MFD released a statement on Tuesday and said during the interior search procedures, a 72-year-old female was found unresponsive in the bedroom. She was transported in critical condition to Regional One Burn Unit with smoke inhalation.
Her unit caught on fire around 4:30 p.m., but fire investigators are still working to determine what caused the fire and where in her unit it originated. MFD said has been determined that the residence did have a working smoke alarm
Donnie James said he saw flames shooting out of one of her downstairs windows as he was arriving home and asked his wife to call 911.
James said he and about five others then tried to enter the burning apartment when they realized someone was still inside.
“The ladies over there, they heard the woman there screaming,” said James. “They said, ‘Somebody upstairs.’ So everybody was pulling up trying to help, trying to get in the house, trying to get the lady out the house.”
James said he and his neighbors only made it as far as the front door.
“Too much smoke. It was too much smoke, too much fire,” he said.
But James says he watched as firefighters climbed through a window to pull the woman to safety.
Cooke said they brought the fire under control in 23 minutes.
Demetrius Coleman, 19, who lives in the unit nextdoor, said he was oblivious to the fire until neighbors alerted him.
“I’m on the couch and stuff like that I just heard everybody yelling, ‘Get out, get out!’ and beating on the walls and stuff,” Coleman said.
Coleman rushed to wake up his sleeping sister and both siblings made it out safely.
Coleman said their unit wasn’t damaged.
This is a developing story,
