TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – Crews battled a house fire on Wednesday on the 1600 block of Taylor street.

Before crews arrived, Robert Havens was working next door and noticed flames coming from the back of the home.

The Topeka Fire Department asked residents to avoid the area near the 1600 block of NW Taylor Street in Topeka while it battled a house fire.

He had his coworker call 911 and he and another coworker ran over to see if anyone was in the home. Inside he saw an older woman trying to get out.

“When we walked into the house she started to get dressed and the situation rapidly went bad. She had a sheet that was blocking the back room and the front room, the sheet turned orange and I knew that was a problem.”

Robert Havens, rescuer

The two coworkers knew they couldn’t wait for crews to arrive so they ran into the burning home to help get the woman out.

“We got her out of the room and the room immediately started filling up with smoke,” said Havens. “The smoke was coming on us quickly. We grabbed her, drug her out quickly.”

Even though there has been strong winds in Topeka for the past few days, Alan Stahl with the Topeka fire department said that wasn’t much of an issue on Wednesday.

The homeowner was taken to a local hospital for treatment but fire crews did not know how bad she was hurt.