OAKLAND -- With flames roaring through her apartment, an Oakland woman leaped two stories to safety from her bedroom window early Friday just moments before her home exploded into a deadly inferno.

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Video On Demand: Priya David Reports On Woman's Dramatic Escape From Oakland Fire

A fire department spokesman said the 54-year-old woman was awakened by a neighbor, who kicked in her front door after seeing the smoke about 1 a.m. at the apartment complex on Fruitvale near East 15th Street. But the fire had engulfed the woman's living room so she could not escape out the front door.

Forced to retreat back to her bedroom, the woman broke her a window with her arm and climbed out. Witnesses said she hung from the window for a while, until the flames got too hot and she let go.

A Good Samaritan found her lying on the ground outside the burning building.

"She was laying on the ground in a pile of glass," said Edward Smith. "When I got there she was still was in shock. I encouraged her -- 'Please get up the fire is right on top of you.'"

Smith and his mother helped pulled glass out of the women until paramedics showed up. Lt. Melinda Drayton said the woman was in intensive care after suffering "some traumatic injuries from the jump as well as partial burns." She was listed in serious condition in the intensive care unit at Highland Hospital.

Some 40 firefighters battled the blaze that spread from the woman's apartment to the third floor where a family was evacuated. An investigation was still ongoing, but firefighters said the building was equipped with sprinklers and smoke alarms.