LEWISTON – A woman was being treated for burns and smoke inhalation Tuesday night after she was pulled from her burning apartment on Lincoln Street.

Two others escaped from an apartment on the first floor as flames tore through the second story of the building at 253 Lincoln St.

Christopher Dufour said he was dusting shelves in his apartment at about 7:30 p.m. when he noticed water coming through the ceiling. A few minutes later, there was a knock at his door.

“A friend pounded on the door to tell me the building was on fire,” said Dufour, 28. “When I stepped outside, the windows were glowing and I could see the blinds up there melting. It was nuts.”

Moments later, the rear section of the second floor was engulfed in flames.

“Since then, it’s all been screaming and moving animals around,” said Dufour, who got his cats out of his apartment as he fled.

Melissa Mathon was driving to the area to visit her mother when she passed the burning building.

“I saw smoke coming up. I could see the flames flickering,” Mathon said. “I called 911 and I went and banged on the doors. The people inside didn’t have a clue about what was happening.”

Dufour and another person got out of the first-floor apartment, but the woman upstairs did not immediately come down. Firefighters began attacking the flames from ladders over the roof of the flat-topped building.

As they got the flames subdued, firefighters found the woman inside and got her out safely. The woman’s face was blackened and it appeared she had suffered burns to her hands.

The woman’s identity was not immediately available. She was still being examined later Tuesday night.

Neighbors who stood and watched the firefighters battle the flames said the woman was known to have cats in her apartment.

“I don’t think they got out of there,” Mathon said.

At about 8:30 p.m., however, firefighters said they had found the cats. They called for an animal control officer to come and take them.

The building that burned is near the corner of Lincoln and Oxford streets. Police blocked off a section of Lincoln Street as firefighters responded.

People who stood on the sidewalks and watched the action said the flames moved fast through the upstairs apartment. Arthur Franco, who at first saw only smoke from a nearby building, said the top apartment was in flames moments later.

“We came outside and saw the flames coming right up the side of the building,” Franco said.

An hour after the fire was reported, crews remained on the scene, smothering the last of the flames and searching for remaining embers. Fire Inspector Paul Ouellette was waiting to enter the gutted apartment in search of a cause.

Officials did not believe Dufour, the first-floor tenant, would be able to return to his apartment Tuesday night.

“I hope I can at least get back in there to get a couple of things,” he said. “I need my car keys so I can go find a place to stay tonight.”