SCRANTON, Pa. — Despite a damage-free facade, a building in North Scranton is now condemned.
An early morning fire caught those who live here off guard.
"I mean, they already had the firetrucks here, the lines pulled everything. The alarms didn't go off, nothing," said Jolie Cesari, Scranton.
When firefighters arrived around 6:30 a.m. Saturday, they were forced to use a pull station to set off audible alarms and alert sleeping tenants.
"I have two children and my nephew was sleeping over. They could have died because the alarms didn't go off," said Jillian Usher.
The Lackawanna County coroner says Deborah Ogden, 57, did not make it out alive.
"We didn't know anything, when we came out me and my son didn't have shoes on, my daughter was in a nightgown and then they were like 'we're gonna bring the body out' and that's how we learned she had burnt up in the fire," said Martia Bridges.
The fire broke out on the first floor of the building.
A city fire investigator says the cause remains under investigation, but he doesn't believe foul play was involved.
24 people lived in the building.
Tenants say the red cross will put them up for three nights but many of them say finding a place to go after that has been especially difficult because of the Coronavirus.
"Just a lot of people are like 'you need testing' and you need this and that before we can see you. A lot of us are low income and don't have money to just go get an apartment any time we want to," said Cesari.