Windom ? A 23-year-old woman died and a volunteer firefighter suffered second- and third-degree burns on his legs while trying to save her from a burning home, authorities said.

Passer-by Aaron Munson Sr. saw smoke rising from the home on Thanksgiving morning and roused most of the sleeping household. Homeowner Paul Foskett fled the home along with his four children – ages 2, 3, 5 and 11.

But there was one person they couldn’t reach: Kandy White, who was living with Foskett’s family while attending Kansas Wesleyan College in Salina, where she was a semester away from graduating.

Volunteer firefighter Brandon Wolf arrived later and also tried to save White. Wolf, the first firefighter on the scene, enter the home three times in an effort to reach her.

Wolf found White unconscious and managed to bring her to the top of the stairs. But the burns to his legs forced him to abandon his efforts.

Munson said Wolf “came stumbling out and said he’d been burnt. We attempted to go back again, but at that point it was clearly too dangerous to proceed.”

Wolf, 29, was flown to a Wichita hospital, where he was listed in fair condition Friday, said Windom Fire Chief Mike Smyers. Wolf has been a volunteer firefighter for at least seven years.

Investigators searched Friday for a cause of the fire that destroyed the four-bedroom home on the eastern edge of the town of about 130 residents.

Smyers said the blaze appeared to have started in the attic area, in a room next to where White had been sleeping.