SOUTH HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – One person was hospitalized after fire broke out early Saturday morning at an apartment building in Westmoreland County.

According to emergency dispatchers, the fire started around 5:30 a.m. at the four-unit apartment building in the 100-block of April Street.

The intense blaze kept firefighters on the scene in Yukon late into the morning.

“When we got here, there was already some fire showing out the first floor window, started the attack,” said Chief Joe Waywood, of the Yukon Volunteer Fire Department.

The fire started in apartment 47 and sent thick smoke to three adjoining apartments.

Fortunately, a neighbor who is also a volunteer firefighter made sure everyone got out safely. Noreen Kite came outside and saw flames shooting up the side of the building.

She dialed 911 and immediately ran across the street to check on her neighbors.

“I brought the two elderly ladies over to my place, out of the cold, and got the two gentlemen that live in the other end of the apartment building and made sure they were out,” said Kite, a volunteer firefighter.

Ralph Spitzer and Jeff McGhee say their apartments were starting to fill up with heavy smoke. They’re glad she came by to check on them.

“If it wasn’t for her – I’m not a young guy anymore, I might not even have got out,” said Spitzer.

“I greatly appreciate… thank God that she was there; it was early in the morning,” added McGhee. “She was able to get everybody awake and everybody out.”

Patty Baylett lived in the apartment where the fire started. Officials say she’s in critical but stable condition at the West Penn Hospital burn unit.

The state police fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.

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