N.Y. Mom Burned While Trying to Rescue Son

Feb. 22--Firefighters rescued a mother and her four-year-old son from a raging fire at a two-unit apartment house on Timon Street -- one of two two-alarm fires that city fire crews faced overnight Thursday.

The mother initially escaped the fire along with her husband and two other children. But when she realized that her 4-year-old was missing, she ran back in to try to save him.

Firefighters who arrived at the scene of the East Side fire pulled the woman and the boy out. The woman suffered serious burns and was taken to Erie County Medical Center for treatment.

The boy suffered smoke inhalation and was rushed to Women and Children's Hospital.

The fire was reported at 12:25 a.m. at 174 Timon Street

The family, who lived on the first floor, awoke to flames. A family who lived on the second floor also escaped.

Authorities said the fire appeared to have started in a rear kitchen on the first floor but the cause remained under investigation Friday.

The fire spread to two neighboring houses. Damage was estimated at $85,000 at 174 Timon and $25,000 at 170 Timon while damage to the vacant house at 176 Timon was set at $50,000. All three were expected to be razed in emergency demolitions.

The second two-alarm fire was called in at about 3 a.m. at 443 Forest, a building where Mixology Buffalo Tavern (formerly the Royal Pheasant) and a boarding house were located.

Thirty people, mostly permanent residents of the boarding house, required temporary shelter provided by the Red Cross, fire officials said.

The cause of that fire also remains under investigation.

Damage was estimated at $125,000 and the blaze is believed to have started in the rear living section of the structure.

No injuries were reported.

Lawrence Ester, one resident who returned this morning to the scene of the fire on Forest to salvage some of his electronic equipment, said it's surprising no one was hurt.

"I can see now how people die in fires," Ester said.

He was in his second-floor apartment when he heard a smoke alarm go off. He figured someone had set it off by smoking a cigarette until he heard a woman screaming: "Get out! Get out!"

Ester opened his front door and smoke billowed in. He fled the fire through a fire escape.

email: lmichel@buffews.com

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