21-year-old woman dies in large fire at Needham, Massachusetts home on Christmas Eve
A 21-year-old woman died in a huge fire at a home in Needham, Massachusetts on Christmas Eve, the fire chief said Wednesday.
Flames broke out in the large single-family house on Woodworth Road around 5 a.m. and quickly went through the roof on the third floor.
Two people in the home escaped, but the woman did not. It took firefighters about seven hours to find her body. Her name has not been made public yet.
"It's a tough day for everybody, especially family," Needham Fire Chief Thomas Conroy told reporters. He did not have any other information about the three people who were in the house at the time of the fire.
"The crews made a valiant effort this morning," said State Fire Marshal Jon Davine. "We still don't have an idea of where the fire started or what caused it, at this point."
There is extensive damage to the house and water in the basement. Firefighters from at least seven departments were called in to help, the chief said.
"It's Christmas Eve, it's a tough day. Tough for the family, tough for the community. It's also tough on the firefighters. They made a great effort to get in there," Davine told reporters.
He reminded everyone to check the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in their own homes.
"We haven't gotten in there yet to start the investigation to see if there were working smoke alarms. Hopefully, we'll figure that out at some point," Davine said.