A woman died Tuesday morning from injuries in a fire that melted smoke detectors off the wall of a Kansas City house.
A man was hurt, apparently while climbing out a bedroom window of the burning home in the 5800 block of Wabash Avenue.
The blaze had largely burned itself out by the time firefighters arrived about 4:35 a.m., said Battalion Chief Lew Hendricks, a spokesman for the Kansas City Fire Department.
The first fire crews reported light smoke or haze in the neighborhood but had trouble pinpointing the burning house because smoke was not pouring out, Hendricks said.
They found the man wandering around the front of the house, possibly in a daze from his escape, Hendricks said.
Rescuers entered the house and found the woman about seven feet inside the door. They tried to resuscitate her in the front yard and then rushed her to a hospital, where she died.
Fire investigators are interviewing the man to try to determine how the fire started and what woke him. The smoke detectors were so damaged from the fire that it was unclear whether they had been working, Hendricks said.
Investigators are concentrating on the kitchen area.
By mid-morning family members, some who live across the street or just doors down, were milling around the house with neighbors and friends.
Some entered to see the damage for themselves. Others sat outside, not wanting to enter.
It was too soon, they said, to talk about their loss of their friend or sister.
Alvin R. Price II, the victim's brother, lives across the street from the burned home. He didn't notice anything wrong when he left to buy cigarettes early today but firefighters and police were pulling up when he returned.
"I was gone maybe 10 -- 15 minutes tops -- at the store," Price said.
First he thought something was wrong at his mother's place. Then he noticed his sister's companion -- the man who apparently escaped through a window -- walking around.
He didn't see his sister.
"They (firefighters) were real efficient in getting her out of the house," Price said. "They tried to resuscitate her, but the look in her eyes you could tell she was gone."
This is Kansas City's second fatal fire within the past week. On Wednesday, a father and two children died when fire swept through their south Kansas City home.
Hendricks stressed that homeowners and apartment dwellers need to make sure they have working smoke detectors, including one by the sleeping areas.
"Your first line of defense is making sure you have something to wake you up," Hendricks said.
Copyright 2012 - The Kansas City Star, Mo.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
