DENVER --
Denver firefighters are credited for saving the life of a homeless woman who nearly froze to death early Thanksgiving.
The woman made it to the fire station just before dawn Thursday, when the temperature outside was 4 degrees.
The woman, 57, rang the bell of a Denver Fire Station Number 8 at 1616 Park Avenue, said Lt. Phil Champagne, a spokesman for the Denver Fire Department.
"She was very sad, she was crying," said firefighter Robert Hedrick, who assisted the woman. "She wasn't going to last much longer in the cold."
Hedrick and other firefighters brought the woman inside, checked her vitals and called an ambulance. She was taken to Denver Health Medical Center and treated for hypothermia.
Champagne said hypothermia deaths among homeless people in Denver are common in winter months.
Emma Douglas, an advocate for the Delores Project, a shelter for single women, said the problem is especially stark for women who are homeless.
"There are 1,600 homeless women every night on any given night in Denver," said Douglas. "There are less than 150 beds that are reserved for single homeless women."
Those numbers can fluctuate based on cold temperatures and need. The nonprofit Denver's Road Home announced that additional emergency beds for homeless single women would be available Thanksgiving night at Central Nueva Vida church on 6738 East Colfax Avenue. Extra beds for single men will be available at the Salvation Army's Crossroads shelter at 1901 29th Street in Denver.
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