Antwan Cotton was passing by when he smelled smoke, he was then able to rescue Karen Watts. (WSYX/WTTE)
A woman was rescued by a passerby after her apartment building caught fire early Thursday morning.
Firefighters called out three alarms for a fire at an apartment complex just off West Broad Street in west Columbus around 3 a.m.
Before firefighters arrived, Antwan Cotton said he was driving by when he smelled smoke. He stopped and banged on doors to find anyone that needs helped.
In the apartment above where firefighters said the flames began, Karen Watts said she opened her front door to escape, but saw thick smoke and flames. Watts, who already had a broken arm, said she felt trapped.
She wasn't sure what to do next, and that's when she heard her bedroom breaking. Cotton was then able to pull her to safety.
"Oh I think God. It wasn’t for him I don’t know, I probably would’ve run through the fire or something like that. I didn’t even think about my bedroom window," said Watts. "He said you have your shoes on? I said yes. He pulled me to the window make sure I didn’t get cut or anything."
Cotton said he did what any other man would do.
"The smoke is bad. Luckily I had this hoodie on and I just went like this," he said. "You couldn’t breathe for nothing. I don’t how she’s okay because it was really bad."
Firefighters said the smoke was thick when they arrived, making it difficult to find a fire hydrant. They said they were able to prevent the flames from spreading to other units. Two units were destroyed.
The cause of the flames was still under investigation. Red Cross arrived to help those displaced.
ABC 6/FOX 28 will continue to follow this story.
from Don T Breathe - Google News http://ift.tt/2jwNtaW
EmoticonEmoticon