Woman critically injured in DeKalb house fire

A woman is in critical condition after being pulled from a burning DeKalb County home overnight.

Crews responded to the house fire on Zane Grey Drive in DeKalb’s Gresham Park neighborhood about 5 a.m. Saturday and discovered flames shooting out the front door, fire Capt. Dion Bentley said.

The homeowner was outside but told firefighters his sister was trapped in an upstairs bedroom. Despite the intense flames, crews used a ladder to get inside the second-story window and pull the unconscious woman from the home, officials said.

Firefighters performed CPR and were able to get the woman’s pulse. The woman, who is in her 60s, was taken to the hospital in critical condition. One firefighter inured her leg outside the home and was also taken to the hospital, Bentley said. She is expected to be OK.

Homeowner Ricky Davis told Channel 2 Action News he woke up early to run an errand and returned to find his home engulfed in flames with his sister trapped inside. Another family member was sleeping when the fire began, but he managed to make it out of the house.

“They couldn’t get her out at first. They had to bust the windows and use a ladder,” Davis told the news station. “She’s breathing now, but I don’t know what condition she’s in.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Davis said his power was recently shut off and that his family had been using candles at night, according to the news station.