Firefighters had to battle the elements as they rescued a woman from a house fire on Orange Street in Manchester on Friday.
When firefighters arrived at the scene, a woman, who neighbors identified as Elizabeth Niemie, was trapped inside her burning home. An initial emergency call said that she was not breathing.
"My mother apparently saw smoke coming out of the window, and she said, 'Check Liz's house. I think it's on fire,' and I said, 'Call 911 right now,'" neighbor Mathew Scanford said.
Firefighters found the woman inside the building and pulled her from the smoke. They applied an oxygen mask, and she began breathing again on her own.
"She's doing OK," Chief Joseph Kane said. "I don't know what her long-term situation is going to be. She's with the paramedics, and she's doing OK."
Fire officials said the snow made it extremely difficult to attack the flames, but their top priority was to get the woman out. How the fire started is still under investigation, but the victim is alive and being treated at Elliot Hospital.
"She's a very quiet lady, lives by herself, but very pleasant to everybody," neighbor Wallace Pineault said. "Everybody likes her."
There is no word on the extent of the woman's injuries.
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