Two police officers rescued an elderly woman from the balcony of her Blawnox apartment early yesterday in a fire that also forced dozens of other senior citizens to evacuate.

The rescued woman, Jean Guentner, 82, was in serious condition last night with second-degree burns.

Investigators said she fell asleep while smoking a cigarette in a lounge chair.

Officers Tom Duffy of Blawnox and Mike Pastorius of O'Hara rescued Mrs. Guentner before dozens of other emergency personnel arrived to assist other tenants of the fully occupied 90-unit Blawnox Towers on Center Avenue.

Two other women were treated at a hospital and released.

About 1:40 a.m. yesterday, someone at the Citgo gas station on Freeport Road alerted the officers to flames in a fifth-floor apartment at the towers.

The officers found a fire hose on the sixth floor and dragged it to the fifth floor and into Mrs. Guentner's apartment. They found her on the balcony with flames shooting toward her, according to Blawnox police Chief George Bucha.

Officers Duffy and Pastorius were not injured. The residents were given shelter at nearby Hoboken Presbyterian Church.

Frank Aggazio, executive director of the Allegheny County Housing Authority, which owns and operates the building, said many of the residents would be back in their apartments by last night. Others may have to wait until smoke and water damage is cleaned up.

On Oct. 17, 2007, another apartment caught fire after the contents of an ashtray were dumped into a trash can. That fire caused an estimated $1 million in damage.

Yesterday's damage may be in excess of $1.5 million, and Mr. Aggazio said Mrs. Guentner's lease was under review.

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