COLUMBUS, Ohio — A woman was hospitalized after she was rescued from the roof of a burning home in the North Linden neighborhood Tuesday morning. Another person was also taken to the hospital.
The Columbus Division of Fire was called to the home in the 1400 block of Republic Avenue, located west of Cleveland Avenue and north of East Hudson Street, just after 4:30 a.m.
A woman was seen on the roof of the home when Columbus firefighters arrived.
Body-worn camera videos from officers at the scene shows several of them rushing to help a woman stuck on the roof at the back of the home. They were able to use their flashlights to locate the woman through the darkness and smoke.
Officers can then be seen guiding her to one edge of the roof as one of them jumped on the hood of a car, and the other on top of a fence as they tried to figure out how to get her down.
They eventually guided her down and caught her, quickly moving her away from the fire to be treated.
It took officers about 2.5 minutes from the time they located her on the roof until they got her down.
"I just thought it was amazing, you know, they're risking their lives and things of that nature just to help another person,” Cheveda McGowan, a woman who lives nearby, said.
McGowan said while she’s thankful no one was seriously injured, witnessing something like that makes you take a step back.
"It just makes you be more aware and more cautious of what you have going on,” McGowan said.
As crews worked to put out the flames, Columbus Division of Fire Battalion Chief Brian Barnhart noticed a kitten within the debris of the home. He scooped it up and brought it back to the fire department where another employee there has been taking care of it.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.