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 the 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. "When they pulled up, it was heavy, heavy fire. Like I said, they made an aggressive attack. It struck multiple alarms. We had cities and towns, from at least seven different departments here, so they made a a very valiant effort." 

"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."

Investigators said Friday it appears the fire started in the rear of an attached garage. Several potential heat sources could have contributed to the flames, all which were accidental, the State Fire Marshal's office said.

There is extensive damage to the house and water in the basement. About 75 firefighters from at least seven departments were called in to help.

"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.

"Definitely very sad. I'm sure it's extremely traumatic, extra on Christmas Eve, but, just my heart goes out to the family. I'm praying for those people," Ilyana Capobianco said.