Unconscious Man Rescued From Burning Home In Ocean County: Video

LAKEWOOD, NJ — Lakewood police officers pulled an unconscious man from a burning home early Saturday after residents cut a hole through a steel garage door to reach him, authorities said.

The 25-year-old man was hospitalized in critical condition at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he was rushed after being rescued, authorities said.

The fire at a home on Joe Parker Road was reported about 1:20 a.m. according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, which said the fire has been ruled accidental and was started by an improperly discarded cigarette.

When Lakewood police arrived, several people who lived in the home were cutting a hole in the steel garage door with a reciprocating saw, trying to rescue the man who was trapped, Lakewood Capt. Gregory Staffordsmith said.

Once the opening was large enough, Officers Julian Guzman and Michael Sheehan broke through sheetrock that had been constructed against the door and found the unconscious man lying on the floor, Staffordsmith said. He appeared to be suffering complications from breathing in the smoke and heat generated by the fire and was rushed to the hospital, Staffordsmith said.

The officer who rescued the man treated for smoke inhalation at Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, the prosecutor's office said.

In addition, a firefighter suffered a "cardiac event," while fighting the fire, the prosecutor's office said. He was treated at Ocean University Medical Center in Brick and released, the prosecutor's office said.

Lakewood firefighters were able to bring the fire under control, authorities said.

The fire started underneath a screened-in deck attached to the structure, caused by the improperly discarded cigarette, the prosecutor's office said. The fire was investigated by the prosecutor's office Arson Squad, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Detective Steven Nickens of the Lakewood Police Department and the Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office.