She broke glass to escape a Beaufort house fire. He left on a stretcher in handcuffs.

A Beaufort woman stabbed multiple times escaped out of the window of a Mossy Oaks home as the house caught fire Wednesday afternoon, witnesses said.

Beaufort police are investigating the incident. The woman’s condition wasn’t known Wednesday afternoon.

A man was taken from the house and left on a stretcher after police handcuffed him, witnesses said.

Benjamin Gambrell, who was directing traffic in front of the house as a contractor worked on the road nearby, said he heard screaming and saw a woman breaking out the glass and emerge from the window with multiple stab wounds.

The woman was screaming that a man was trying to kill her and kill himself and smoke began pouring from the window, said Chris Bulmer, who works with Gambrell.

Bulmer said he helped the woman out of the window, rolled her over and applied pressure to a wound on her ribs. She had been stabbed in the ribs and torso, her face appeared to have been beaten and swollen and she had a large wound on her head, Bulmer said.

“She said ‘he wants to kill himself, he’s not going to come out,’” Bulmer said. “That’s when the whole house lit up.”

Sherry Hyland has owned the home in the 700 block of Battery Creek Road close to 15 years. She said the woman had been in need of a place to stay and staying with her since September.

Hyland’s two 10-year-old Great Danes, Tate and Izzy, escaped the fire and are staying with a neighbor. A small black dog belonging to the woman who stayed in the house ran off and had not been found Wednesday afternoon.

Beaufort firefighters responded to the call at 1 p.m. Smoke and fire were visible in a front window on one side of the house. Firefighters broke the remaining glass and also broke out the adjacent window as the extinguished the fire.

Beaufort Fire Chief Reece Bertholf said the fire was a criminal investigation and declined further comment. Beaufort police responded the house as a domestic violence call, a police news release said.

The woman, 42, and a 25-year-old man were taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, the release said. No arrests had been made Wednesday afternoon.

A blackened mattress could be seen leaning in one of the broken windows as firefighters finished at the scene. A yellow garden hose remained coiled on its perch on the brick facade, and a small pumpkin rested untouched on a table on the front porch.

A neighbor continued to mow his grass, avoiding the yellow crime scene tape that cordoned off Hyland’s yard.

The neighbor, who asked not to be named, described the woman as a “bloody mess” and said he saw black smoke pouring from the house and chimney.

Hyland talked with police investigators and supporters from her church. She had been at the consignment store she owns when she heard about the fire.

“I’m speechless,” she told an investigator. “I want to laugh to try not to cry.”

This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 5:05 PM with the headline "She broke glass to escape a Beaufort house fire. He left on a stretcher in handcuffs.."