LEWISTOWN, PA — A woman died from smoke inhalation in a residential fire on the 200 block of East Third Street on Jan. 23, according to the Lewistown Police Department.
Officers were dispatched to the fire at 1:14 p.m. after dispatch reported people were jumping out of windows.
Bystanders reported a woman was trapped on the second floor and unable to jump from the window.
Two Lewistown police officers who are also volunteer firefighters made entry into the building.
A local contractor who wished to remain anonymous ran past officers into the smoke-filled second floor without protective gear in an attempt to rescue the trapped woman.
Officers escorted an elderly man out of the building.
The Lewistown Fire Department responded and rescued the trapped resident, but she was determined to be deceased at the scene.
Another resident who officers escorted from the building was transported to the hospital and flown to the Lehigh Valley Burn Center.
Fire crews worked for several hours to extinguish the flames.
One building was determined to be structurally unsound and was demolished, and an adjacent building was damaged and condemned.
The resident who was flown to the burn center reported the fire started in the deceased woman’s apartment and that they were trying to extinguish the flames with a fire extinguisher when the woman became trapped at a window.
The Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal was summoned to investigate.
The Mifflin County Coroner’s Office ruled the preliminary cause of death was smoke inhalation and the manner of death was accidental.
