A Warren woman rescued by firefighters from her burning home remained in critical condition Monday afternoon.

As Warren firefighters arrived at the ranch-style home Sunday morning on Dale Avenue, near Hoover and 11 Mile roads, police told them that family members said 38-year-old Jennifer Kasinski was still in the basement where she had living quarters.

“The family couldn’t get to her because smoke and heat was coming up the stairs,” Warren Deputy Fire Chief Gary Wilkinson said.

As one crew battled the flames in the basement amid thick, dark smoke, another searched for the woman and found her unconscious on the floor. She was not breathing and had no pulse when paramedics checked her moments after she was carried up the stairs by two firefighters.

“They had their hands full (but) they found her pretty quick,” Wilkinson said.

By the time Kasinski arrived at St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital in Warren, she had a pulse and was breathing again. She was in critical condition and later transferred to Detroit Receiving Hospital for treatment of severe smoke inhalation.

Her relatives were coughing after escaping the home and sought medical treatment on their own. No firefighters were injured in the incident.

Kasinski resided in the home with her mother, stepfather and 19-year-old son. Her family members were asleep on the main floor of the house but were awakened by a smoke alarm at approximately 7 a.m. A smoke alarm in the basement had a battery but did not function properly, leading fire officials to believe that’s why the woman was unable to escape on her own.

The basement was set up with a bedroom, small kitchen and a bathroom.

Fire investigators do not suspect foul play in the incident. Officials believe the blaze started in a storage cabinet that concealed a power strip with several plugs connected to it, Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson praised firefighters for their life-saving efforts Sunday.

“The impressive part to me was they got her out so fast,” he said.

The deputy chief said firefighters searching a smoke-filled structure for victims –- often in little or no visibility — are trained to move along, and stay in contact with, walls to avoid becoming disorientated while trying to find a person on the floor. Sometimes, firefighters will extend their reach by using their feet to stay in contact with walls and using an axe or other tools to sweep along a floor to find anyone, he said.

A man has been taken to hospital after he needed to be rescued following a fall down the Scarborough Bluffs on Sunday morning.

Toronto Fire says the 23-year-old fell halfway down the bluffs at about 5:30 a.m.

Paramedics told 680News that the man was suffering from frostbite.

Several trucks and a fireboat were part of the operation.

There is no word yet on how the man fell.

Three young children are in the hospital after firefighters rescued them from an apartment fire in Southwest Fresno late Sunday morning. It happened just after 11:30 a.m. on Church near Fig.

Fire crews responded to the apartment complex and found light smoke. They went into rescue mode after learning that the three children — ages 1, 2 and 3 — were still inside the apartment, according to Pete Martinez of the Fresno fire Department. Firefighters rescued all three kids from the burning unit and treated them at the scene, he said.

The children were transported to Community Regional Medical Center. Their conditions are not known at this time.

Investigators are still trying to figure out the cause of the fire, but they say it is believed to have started in the living room. Two apartment units were damaged by the flames.

The children’s parents were there at the time of the fire, but it’s not known if they were with the kids, according to Martinez.

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) –

The Columbia Fire Department successfully rescued a man who was shocked while trimming a tree approximately 55′ in the air Saturday afternoon.

Columbia Fire spokesman Brick Lewis says fight fighters were able to complete a high angle rescue after a man was shocked while trimming a tree on Legrand Road.

Lewis says SCE&G cut power to the area while Columbia Fire worked to rescue the man.

The man was treated by Richland EMS and was released on scene.

PELHAM, N.H. (CBS) – One person died and two were rescued during a house fire in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire State Fire Marshal William Degnan announced that a person who was pulled through the second floor window of a Blackstone Circle home in Pelham, N.H., died as a result of the flames.

The fire broke out at about 10 p.m. on Friday night at the two-story single family home. When firefighters arrived heavy smoke and flames were showing.

Police and firefighters provided assistance to a person who jumped from a second story window and helped a second person who was trapped on the first floor.

Investigators have not yet released the identity of the person who died in the fire.

Preliminary investigation indicates that the fire likely started in the first floor living room, though officials said the origin and cause have not yet been officially determined.

“State Fire Marshal Degnan and Fire Chief (Jim) Midgley would like to remind everyone that when using alternative heating appliances to make sure they have proper clearances from nearby combustibles and that the home is equipped with working smoke detectors. They also urge everyone to be vigilant with keeping exit pathways inside and out clear and unobstructed,” fire officials said

HOPKINTON, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) — Hopkinton firefighters rescued a person who fell through the ice on a lake Saturday.

Fire officials say the ice was about 8 to 10 inches thick in most parts of Lake Whitehall, but the spot where the victim fell through was a lot thinner.

At ATV was needed to bring the victim to safety. He was checked then out by EMT’s.

No injuries were reported.

CHARLOTTE — Firefighters rescued a man in a wheelchair from his burning south Charlotte home Saturday morning.

The fire started at about 5:15 a.m. on Lynn Avenue, near Carmel Road. When firefighters arrived, a woman living in the house told them her husband was stuck inside. They rescued him and treated him for smoke inhalation on the scene.

Firefighters say the smoke alarm and their alarm company alerted the couple.

Firefighters say they believe the fire started in the back of the house. Damage was confined to the garage.

CHICAGO — A woman was killed and a man was critically injured when their Lexus veered off Lake Shore Drive and flipped over on a frozen lagoon in Lincoln Park early Monday morning.

Police were called to the 2200 block of North Lake Shore Drive around 1:45 a.m. after getting reports of a car crashing into the Diversey Harbor lagoon in Lincoln Park, according to Chicago police spokeswoman Amina Greer.

Rescue crews found the sedan flipped over on the ice-covered lagoon. The Police Department’s marine unit ran two lines of rope across the lagoon as a small team worked to free the pair trapped inside the car.

The team used sleds to move the two to waiting ambulances.  As team members worked, police and paramedics watched from the banks of the lagoon.

Debris from the mangled car was spread out over the ice. A section of the guardrail along the west side of Lake Shore Drive was gone, marking the point where the car had barreled off the road.

Both people were initially taken to hospitals in serious-to-critical condition, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Will Knight. The woman, 37, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead at 2:30 a.m. She was later identified as Claudie Beruben, of the 12400 block of South Laflin Street in Calumet Park, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

The man was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition, authorities said.

Police closed three lanes of southbound traffic on Lake Shore Drive for emergency equipment at the scene. Early Monday morning, southbound traffic was moving past the crash site, but police had closed off the Fullerton on-ramp heading south.

After 5 a.m., crews had removed the car from the ice and traffic had returned to normal.

Authorities believe alcohol may have been a factor in crash. The Police Department’s Major Accidents Unit was investigating.