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Newark mayor Cory Booker treated after helping at fire rescue
NEWARK (AP) – The mayor of New Jersey's largest city said Friday he thought he might die when he dashed through a burning, smoky kitchen to find and rescue a neighbor from her second-floor bedroom..
"I felt fear. I really didn't think we were going to get out of there," Mayor Cory Booker, his burned right hand still bandaged, told a news conference in front of the boarded-up home.
The 42-year-old mayor said it was very difficult to breathe as he looked for the woman, 47-year-old Zina Hodge, whose mother had screamed she was still trapped inside the burning house.
As he got to the bedroom, Booker said he could hear, "I'm here, I'm here. Help! I'm here."
The mayor, who was coughing heavily after the rescue late Thursday, was treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and second-degree burns.
Hodge was listed in serious condition Friday in the intensive-care unit of the burn center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. Fire officials said she had suffered second-degree burns to her back and neck and smoke inhalation. The hospital would not provide details of her injuries.
NEWARK (AP) – The mayor of New Jersey's largest city said Friday he thought he might die when he dashed through a burning, smoky kitchen to find and rescue a neighbor from her second-floor bedroom..
"I felt fear. I really didn't think we were going to get out of there," Mayor Cory Booker, his burned right hand still bandaged, told a news conference in front of the boarded-up home.
The 42-year-old mayor said it was very difficult to breathe as he looked for the woman, 47-year-old Zina Hodge, whose mother had screamed she was still trapped inside the burning house.
As he got to the bedroom, Booker said he could hear, "I'm here, I'm here. Help! I'm here."
The mayor, who was coughing heavily after the rescue late Thursday, was treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and second-degree burns.
Hodge was listed in serious condition Friday in the intensive-care unit of the burn center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. Fire officials said she had suffered second-degree burns to her back and neck and smoke inhalation. The hospital would not provide details of her injuries.
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