Three City of Washington police officers will be recommended for commendation for rescuing an 18-year-old woman from a group home that had caught fire yesterday.

Sgt. Robert Lemons said he arrived at the large Victorian-style house, located in the 900 block of East Maiden Street, at around noon to find flames shooting out of the second-story windows. He, Cpl. Michael Sulerud and Officer Todd Foreman entered through a first-floor window and crawled up a stairwell, staying low to avoid inhaling smoke. When they got to the second floor, they found Melody Marody, a patient in the group home, lying unresponsive in the hallway.

They pulled her from the hallway and carried her down the stairs to the back door, where an ambulance was waiting. She suffered burns on half of her body and remains in critical condition at UPMC Mercy Hospital.

The home's four other patients and two staff members escaped uninjured.

Chief James Blyth said the fire started in a bedroom on the second floor, but the cause of the fire is still unknown and a state police fire marshal is investigating.