PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — An elderly woman is dead after part of a roof collapsed into a West Mount Airy home Monday.
Officials say a neighbor called 911 about a wellness check when they saw the roof’s condition.
The fire department responded to the scene just after noon for a search and rescue operation and found the woman — whose identity is not yet known — dead inside.
Fire officials don’t know when the collapse happened. According to preliminary information from the fire department, the roof partially caved in and the first floor collapsed into the basement.
“It’s a tragedy to hear someone died in that manner,” said Michael Slade, who grew up just a few doors down from the woman’s house. He said she was really nice and would speak to the kids in the neighborhood — “very polite, everyone liked her.”
He said she lived in the house for a while by herself. Someone used to check in on her periodically, he said, but they stopped.
KYW reached out to Licenses & Inspections but has not heard back.