HAPPY VALLEY, Ore. -- Firefighters busted out a second-story window and used ropes to lower a woman to safety from a house fire early Wednesday morning.
Crews were dispatched to the 9000 block of Top Of Scott Street about 4 a.m. and arrived to find big flames coming from the home, said Clackamas fire spokesman Steve Hoffeditz.
Two people outside told firefighters there was still a woman inside the home. As they searched, the heat was enough that carpet in the upstairs hallways was melting.
She was found in an upstairs bedroom. Flames by then were so intense that a decision was made that the only way out was a second-story window, he said.
As firefighters on the ground were placing the ladder in the window, flames were already coming out of it, he said. After the woman was lowered, firefighters bailed out of the same window.
Ropes were used to lower the woman to safety. She was taken to the hospital. Her condition was not available.
No firefighters were injured.
Five cats died in the fire.
