Grass Valley fireman Rob Penn (top) looks through a dormer window of a fire damaged Bennett Street apartment as other fire personnel begin the cleanup and inspection phase of the incident. (Photo by Eileen Joyce)

Beverly Ver Steeg is prepared for transport by helicopter to UC Davis Medical Center Monday night after sustaining severe burns in a fire in her Bennett Street home.

A Grass Valley woman suffered multiple burns after her apartment caught fire and a group of people tried to pull her from the flames and smoke Monday night.

Beverly Ver Steeg went by helicopter to the University of California at Davis Medical Center after flames destroyed her second-floor home at Cedar Manor Apartments, 345 Bennett St.

Neighbors said she suffered burns to her hands, feet and back. Her condition wasn't immediately available.

Grass Valley Fire Marshal Greg Burke said the fire appears to have been accidental, but the cause remains under investigation. Ver Steeg suffered serious injuries, he said.

Fernando Rodriguez, 27, was watching "Monday Night Football" at a friend's first-floor apartment when he learned of the fire, which was first reported at 7:19 p.m.

"I saw the window shatter, so I ran up," said the self-described transient.

By then, others had tried to pull Ver Steeg from the second-floor landing, where she sat despondently on a metal bench, witnesses said.

"Oh, man, you could feel how tense she was. She just froze," Rodriguez said. "She didn't say a word. Tell you the truth, she didn't say anything."

A neighbor, Diane Winter, unsuccessfully tried to get Ver Steeg outside, but then the victim ran back into her burning apartment.

Winter tried to find her, but "it kind of burst into flames. And the smoke was too bad, so I left," she said.

Rodriguez entered and felt through the smoke until finding Ver Steeg's knee. Then he dragged her to the parking lot, and Winter wrapped her in a blanket.

The man who provided the blanket, 22-year-old Joseph Lightfoot, marveled at Rodriguez's action.

"I've never seen anything like it," he said. "He just said, 'Forget it,' and went right up in there."

Beyond the burns, Ver Steeg also suffered singed hair. Winter said the victim is in her late 50s and on disability leave from her nurse's aide job because of a back injury.

The damage was limited to one unit, and most residents returned home after about an hour. Crews were still at the scene at 9:30 p.m.

The apartment owner, Tim Rossovich, said the building has 17 units and has never suffered more than a grease fire.

Firefighters from Grass Valley, Nevada County Consolidated and Ophir Hill responded, along with Grass Valley police and Sierra Nevada Ambulance.

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