Bemidji man rescues woman from burning house

Two minutes - that's the margin Bemidji emergency medical technician and former firefighter Tom Johnson estimates between the life and death of a Leader, Minn., woman.

Early Sunday afternoon, Johnson was riding his Harley-Davidson Electra Glide motorcycle north on state Highway 64 near Leader when he saw smoke and flames coming from a house. Johnson pulled up to the burning building to see if anyone was inside.

"I kicked the door open," Johnson said. "It was so hot I couldn't stand up. The door handle was smoking hot."

He found Cathy Kinnaman in a bedroom. She is a nurse in the Staples Lakewood System Emergency Room and was sleeping off a 12-hour night shift in preparation for another 12-hour shift starting Sunday evening.

See complete story in Wednesday's Pioneer.