TROY, N.Y. -- A 29-year-old woman was seriously burned while rescuing a baby from an apartment fire early Sunday, Fire Chief Tom Garrett said.
The fire in Apartment 5 was reported at 3:15 a.m. at Griswold Heights Apartments, a municipal housing complex in the city. Garrett said a woman in an adjacent unit in Building 5 realized there was a fire and ran into the next-door neighbor's apartment.
No one was with the infant at the time of the early morning blaze, according to Capt. John Cooney, a police spokesman. He said the child's designated caretaker, a man, was in Apartment 6 with the woman when the fire started.
It's unclear what he was doing in his neighbor's unit, Cooney said, and also unclear whether there was any monitoring device in use.
After the fire was reported, the woman, whose name was not released, tried to enter through the front door. She was unsuccessful, Cooney said, so ran through her own apartment into a back courtyard and into the rear door of Apartment 5.
"She ran through the entire length of the apartment to the living room area, where there was a playpen, grabbed the baby and ran back through heavy smoke and flames," said Cooney. "Her actions were beyond heroic."
The woman was airlifted to Westchester Medical Center for burn treatment, and the baby was transported to Albany Medical Center Hospital for second-degree burns to a leg.
Cooney said the cause and circumstances surrounding the fire are under investigation, and that officers are determining whether any neglect charges against the man are warranted.
He has not been arrested, Cooney said, but Child Protective Services was notified.
Copyright 2012 - Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
