Firefighters rescue Chicago area woman trapped under awning

SCHILLER PARK, Ill. (AP) - A suburban Chicago woman was rescued by firefighters after spending 10 hours trapped beneath an awning that collapsed outside her home under the weight of heavy snow and ice, authorities said.

The woman, who is in her 50s, was shoveling snow in the rear of her home when the awning fell onto her sometime between noon and 1 p.m. Monday, according to the Schiller Park Fire Department.

Department Chief Mike Cesaretti said the woman's legs were pinned by the fallen awning and her predicament was not discovered until a family member returned home about 10:15 p.m.

'œShe was trying to call for help, but being her head was inside of the awning, nobody was able to hear her,'ť Cesaretti told WLS-TV.

Firefighters rushed to the woman's home Cook County home and found her conscious under the awning. Crews used struts and inflatable bags to raise the awning and freed her in about 10 minutes.

The woman was taken by ambulance to Lutheran General Hospital, where her condition was stabilized.

Dozens of buildings and other structures have failed in Chicago and its suburbs during February following weeks of freezing temperatures and above-average snowfall. On Feb. 17, a man died after a snow-covered awning collapsed on him and another person at an off-track betting site on Chicago's far South Side.