Firefighters in Linden battled a two-alarm fire at an apartment complex where a woman was transported via Medivac helicopter to the hospital after she was found unconscious.
Crews responded to an apartment building, located at 1102 W. St. George Avenue, for a report of a fire shortly after 6 p.m. Monday.
The building superintendent reported that he observed smoke in the 2nd floor hallway and used a fire extinguisher before becoming overcome and leaving the building to call 911.
Members of the Fire Department proceeded to evacuate the apartments’ occupants and eventually discovered a 39-year-old woman in a second floor apartment laying unconscious with burns on her body.
She was removed from the building and treated by paramedics from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Rahway and Fire Department ambulance personnel before being airlifted to St. Barnabas Hospital’s Burn Unit in Livingston.
The fire, which originated in the victim’s apartment, was quickly extinguished by firefighters.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Linden Fire Department and the Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit.
The state DOT also responded to treat ice conditions on W. St. Georges Avenue created by water in sub-freezing temperatures.
Linden Fire Department Chief Joseph Dooley was in charge at the scene.