90-year-old woman killed in Wednesday night duplex fire in Shorewood
SHOREWOOD (WITI) — A 90-year-old woman is dead after a fire broke out in a Shorewood duplex on Wednesday night, October 30th -- and now, officials -- including the Wisconsin Fire Marshal's Office are working to determine what caused the fire.
The woman killed has been identified as Jeanne Taggett.
"It was awful. I don`t think I slept all night. My son was here and saw it too. It`s one of those things that will haunt you," neighbor Michael Mishlove said.
The incident occurred around 9:00 p.m. at a duplex in the 4400 block of N. Murray Ave. in Shorewood.
When crews arrived on the scene, the tenants from the upstairs unit of the duplex were outside. The upstairs tenant advised fire crews that an elderly resident lived in the lower unit.
Shortly after entry, crews encountered a victim within the residence. The victim was removed immediately and tended to by North Shore Fire Paramedics.
Ultimately, Taggett was pronounced dead.
Officials say the fire apparently broke out in the back of the home. The woman reportedly lived on the first floor of the duplex, alone.
"We saw flames shooting out -- called 911. I know one of the people called 911. He tried to check on the side door to see if there was any indication she was in there and there wasn`t," Mishlove said.
Crews encountered heavy smoke and moderate fire in the rear of the home. They were able to quickly control and ultimately extinguish the fire. There were no additional injuries reported on the scene.
There is extensive fire damage to the first floor of the residence and heavy smoke damage throughout both floors of the home. No exact damage cost estimate is available at this time.
Firefighters believe they know the origin of the fire, but are still trying to determine the cause.
"The origin of the fire is basically a threshold leading from what is the kitchen of the house into an all seasons rear kind of back den area. It's on the inside of the kitchen, just before that doorway," North Shore Fire Lt. Dan Tyk said.
No smoke detectors were sounding on the arrival of fire companies. It is unknown at this time if any smoke detectors were present on either level of the home.
The North Shore Fire Department faced a tough day on Wednesday -- beginning with a fatal garage collapse in Fox Point that killed 38-year-old Sean Held.
"We had one of the crews that was at both incidents, tended to both of those patients -- so especially for that 5 or 6 members, it's especially tragic and takes, I would assume, a pretty significant emotional toll," Lt. Tyk said.
Any time you have a crew that deals with a fatality, it`s especially harder to see that happen because our job is generally to help people. So when you can`t successfully help people, that makes it tough," North Shore Fire Chief Robert Whitaker said.
The day ended with the fire in Shorewood that occurred at the same time as a crash involving extrication in Fox Point.
The patient in that case was said to have suffered non life-threatening injuries -- but was taken to the hospital for treatment.