by Tanangachi Mfuni and Jonathan Lemire
A Chinatown woman was battling for life after firefighters pulled her out of her burning high-rise apartment, officials said.
The 59-year-old woman was asleep in her 10th-floor apartment in Knickerbocker Village on Monroe St. when a fire ignited at 3:45 a.m. Wednesday, officials said.
Firefighters raced to the scene and climbed the stairs to the apartment, which was engulfed in flames. "We couldn't really see much [because] there was heavy smoke," said Firefighter Michael McNamara of Ladder 6.
The woman, whose name was not released, had apparently dozed off on a living room couch, according to FDNY officials.
"There was a little delay getting to her because there was a lot of debris," said Capt. Russell Strobel of Ladder 9. Fighting through the smoke, McNamara and Strobel carried the victim from her burning home to an ambulance.
She suffered burns on 40% of her body and was listed in critical condition at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell.
Fire marshals believe the blaze ignited after the woman's lit cigarette fell on paper products on the living room floor.
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