(WICHITA, Kan.) — A woman is taken to the hospital in critical condition after a fire breaks out at her home Sunday afternoon.
It happened just after 1 o'clock in the 400 block of south Laura. When crews arrived on the scene they found fire showing from the south side of the house. When firefighters got inside they found heavy fire coming from one room but it also extended up into the second floor and attic.
The fire is under investigation. Damage is estimated at $45,000. There were a few cats in the house as well. Crews think a woman living in the home went back inside to rescue the pets. She suffered smoke inhalation and had to be taken to the hospital. The cats have not been found.
Captain Stuart Bevis of the Wichita Fire Department says the woman was listed in critical condition per protocol. There was soot around her mouth. "If you have a lot of soot around your airway then you have to be really worried about the fact that you took in the soot and smoke at the same time," says Bevis. "At the same time you're taking in heat because it's not like if you have a laceration that you can see. If they have heat damage to their airway you don't know it until later as it starts swelling up so they treat that very cautiously."
