An elderly woman who was pulled from her home in Stoughton, Massachusetts, after a multi-alarm fire broke out early Saturday morning, has died, fire officials said.
Stoughton firefighters who responded to the Grove Street blaze around 3:40 a.m. encountered heavy smoke and found the woman in a second-floor bedroom, Assistant Fire Chief Mike Carroll said. The woman, in her 90s, was in the room adjacent to where the fire broke out. She lived with her daughter, who made it out safely.
Firefighters removed the elderly woman from the home and EMS immediately began working, Carroll said. She was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital where she died from her injuries.
Firefighters initially were told two people were still inside the home, Carroll said, but a secondary search concluded that it was only the one woman. No other injuries have been reported.
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There were seven people inside when the flames broke out. Carroll said four were residents of the home, and three people were visiting. There are multiple apartments inside the home, including two on the first floor, and one on the second floor.
Neighbor Jim Ravanis tells NBC10 Boston that a home health aide who takes care of the elderly woman knocked on his door to alert him to the fire. Before he escaped, Ravanis says he tried to get the woman out but was unsuccessful due to how much smoke there was on the second floor.
"We couldn't get her, we tried twice, me and the landlord, it was too smoky. We could feel the heat on our backs," he said.
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The American Red Cross of Massachusetts is responding to help those who were displaced.
The fire, which went to three alarms, was knocked down quickly -- within 30 minutes -- Carroll said. Fire crews from surrounding towns responded to assist, including Brockton, Canton, Easton, Sharon and Avon.
According to Carroll, the Stoughton Fire Department has responded to this particular home for at least two smaller fires in the past. He said Saturday's fire was more advanced, noting that the time of day it happened certainly played a role in that.
Carroll said he is not positive whether wiring, smoking material such as a cigarette, or a candle could have started the fire.
There were smoke detectors on the first floor, Carroll said, but firefighters did not hear anything on the second floor, so it's unclear whether or not there were detectors on the second floor where the flames broke out.
Carroll doesn't believe the building is a total loss, citing there is minimum damage on the first floor.
Massachusetts State Police and the state fire marshal are on scene and will determine a cause. An investigation is ongoing.
