HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A 77-year-old woman died at a Westmoreland County hospital after being pulled from her burning Hempfield Township home Sunday morning.
Tara Hunter frantically tried to call her neighbor, Betty Houston, whose Corbett Avenue home caught fire after 7 a.m.
"We tried calling her over and over again. There was no response," said Hunter.
She and her daughter tried to get inside the home, but the smoke was too thick.
"We had the window broke. We were trying to get in," Hunter told Channel 11's Lori Houy.
Then firefighters arrived and managed to pull Houston from a bedroom of the one-story home.
Channel 11 learned that Houston was unresponsive when she was taken to Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
"She's a very sweet lady. We couldn't have asked for a better neighbor. She's very close to my kids, very good to my kids. She'll be greatly missed," said Hunter.
Investigators determined the cause of the fire, which started in the home's basement, to be electrical.
WPXI
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