Woman injured in second of two fires in Pittsfield Township Thursday afternoon

Pittsfield Township firefighters battled two blazes this afternoon, including a house fire that injured one woman who was trying to rescue her two cats.

She was taken to the University of Michigan Hospital with severe burns, said fire commander Sean Gleason.

Her two cats were rescued by firefighters, Gleason said, and were unharmed. Two dogs were able to escape from the house, and they were also unhurt.

The house fire, reported at 4:06 p.m. in the 300 block of Hunter Ridge Drive, was the second of two blazes that drew crews from Pittsfield and Saline Area Fire Department on Thursday.

The first fire broke out about 2:30 p.m. in a vacant barn near Michigan Avenue and Warner Road.

Gleason said the fire was suspicious and the cause was under investigation. The barn was filled with hay and straw, and it was not connected to any power, meaning there seemed to be no ignition source for the fire, he explained.

By 7 p.m., crews were still on the scene, and a contractor with a backhoe was tearing down the barn in order to help extinguish the blaze.

"You could dump 10,000 gallons of water on that and it would still be going," Gleason said. Pulling the barn apart will help put out the flames, he said.

The fires were not related, said Deputy Police Chief Gordy Schick.

The fire at the home started in the back of the house, and investigators are still looking into the cause, but it was not suspicious, Gleason said. The damage to the house was estimated at $175,000. No damage estimate was available for the barn.

The woman's condition was not available Thursday evening, as she was still being evaluated at the hospital.