Two people are in the hospital battling smoke inhalation after a morning fire in Roseville on Sunday.

As fires increase across the metro, hospitals are seeing more smoke inhalation cases.

Fire and health officials explained smoke inhalation is a critical diagnosis that can be deadly.

When Roseville Fire gets a call, every second counts.

“Timing is everything,” Neil Sjostrom, Roseville Fire assistant chief, said. “Whether it’s you getting yourself out or the firefighters getting there quick enough to be able to deploy and use their tactics for search and rescue.”

That’s exactly what the Roseville Fire Department was faced with Sunday morning.

On Asbury Street, firefighters found a woman hanging on the ledge of a building as smoke billowed out of her apartment.

“They [firefighters] grabbed the ground ladder and rescued the woman that was hanging out of that second-floor window and then turned those two individuals over to paramedics to be treated medically for smoke inhalation,” Sjostrom said.

Smoke inhalation is a common diagnosis after victims breathe in hot air, smoke or chemicals in a fire.

Health officials explained symptoms could creep up on patients in the days and weeks after the fire.

“It depends on where and how much was the intensity,” Hem Desai, M Health Fairview pulmonologist, said. “You’ve just got to keep a close eye on those patients.”

Desai said smoke inhalation can severely damage the windpipe and lungs.

“If you start seeing the signs of the stinging or the nose, the redness and soot at the back of your mouth, and your voice is changing, you probably want to put them on a ventilator and keep them in the ICU,” said Desai.

Fire officials said if you’re stuck in the situation, do your best to get away from the smoke.

“Just like we teach kids, if you do happen to find yourself in a situation where there is smoke or heat in a room from a fire, get down as low as you can and then try to get out of that area as quickly as we can,” Sjostrom said.

Fire officials added people can sleep with their bedroom door closed to block smoke if there’s a fire and to make sure their smoke alarms are working because they can save a life.