An 81-year-old Rockville woman is dead after firefighters rescued her from a burning home in Aspen Hill early Thursday morning.
Firefighters say the fire broke out in the basement of the Iris Street home at about 4:30 a.m. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue officials told the Washington Post that when firefighters arrived, a man reported that his mother was inside a second-floor bedroom.
Two firefighters found her and pulled her to safety though a window, fire and rescue spokesman Pete Piringer says. She was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, and then to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where she died of her injuries.
The two firefighters who tried to rescue her were also taken to the hospital for minor injuries, Piringer says.
About 100 firefighters and 30 units responded to the blaze.
The cause of the fire, which severely damaged the home, remains under investigation. Piringer says the house, at 4610 Iris Street, appeared not to have working smoke alarms. The woman’s name has not been released.
#mcfrs Safety Officer(s), Fire investigator & others confer w/ Battalion Chief (704) Dee Howard-Richards on Iris St pic.twitter.com/ufSmAe27RF
— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) September 4, 2014