Fort Worth

Police, Neighbors and Firefighters Rush to Save Woman From Early Morning House Fire

When a fire started just before 2 a.m. at a house on Andrew Avenue in Fort Worth's Stop Six neighborhood, the right people were there at the right time.

"They had the whole street blocked off," Gwendolyn Baldwin said. "Looked like it might have started in the kitchen."

Baldwin said she heard banging on the street outside her home, so she stepped outside.

"And saw the house on fire and policemen trying to break into the house," Baldwin said. "I'm glad the neighbor up the street helped them get in the house to rescue her, otherwise it would have been very tragic incident."

She explained that someone up the street ran to get a sledgehammer and crow bar.

A neighbor told NBC 5 the woman who lived in the home that burned was in her 70s and grew up in the house.

Most of the homes on the block have bars on the windows and doors. They're meant to be for safety, but they made getting to the victim more difficult.

"The whole house was barred up," Baldwin said. "It was a lot of smoke. A lot of smoke."

Fort Worth firefighters were able to get inside the home and rescue the woman near the front door. She was taken by ambulance to Parkland Hospital in Dallas in serious condition, but stable, to be treated for smoke inhalation.

Fire investigators have not determined what caused the fire.

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