WINSLOW — A resident of a downtown apartment building was helped through a window to safety by police Thursday morning after her apartment filled with thick smoke from a cooking fire.

A caller reporting a smoke alarm going off brought emergency personnel to a four-unit building at 34 Monument St. shortly before 10 a.m. Fire department officials believe smoke from a cooking fire in a first-floor apartment set off the alarms.

Firefighters ventilated the building with a high-powered fan. There was no apparent structural damage as a result of the fire, Winslow Fire Capt. Rocky Gravel said.

Other residents already had left the building, but Christie Mann, in whose first-floor apartment the fire is believed to have started, was trapped in a back bedroom, according to Winslow police Lt. Joshua Veilleux.

Winslow Officer John Veilleux – no relation to Joshua – went into the building’s common hall area and tried to get to the second floor after a report that a man was still on the second floor, but the officer was overcome with thick smoke at the top of the stairs. The man eventually came out of the building on his own.

Meanwhile, Joshua Veilleux removed the back window screen and help pull Mann out of the apartment window, which was about 6 feet off the ground.

Mann, who was coughing, was given oxygen at the scene by emergency medical personnel from Delta Ambulance. Mann was taken to the hospital for evaluation, Joshua Veilleux said. Firefighters rescued her dog, a boxer, from the apartment.

All the residents who were in the apartment at the time of the fire were evacuated.


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