SCRANTON, Pa. — A fire tore through a double block home along Putnam Street in Scranton around 8 a.m. Sunday.
Karl Lynott, who lives across the street, said the neighborhood was peaceful just 30 minutes prior when he went out to get his newspaper. When he returned, outside there was chaos.
"There were just flames shooting out the whole front of the building and the electrical line popped off the side of the side of the house almost striking some of the firemen," Lynott explained.
A young girl lived in the unit escaped the flames and while her front porch was burning she knocked on the door of the other apartment.
She alerted a woman that the building was on fire and that her mother was still inside.
The woman did not wish to interview on camera but she said she was babysitting four children inside.
The woman said she got the kids out safely and then tried to help the girl's mother. She couldn't get inside because the flames and smoke were too oppressive.
It wasn't until fire crews arrived that the woman was brought out.
"She was on oxygen and stuff, I would see her on the porch and she'd have oxygen in her nose so I think she was sickly," said neighbor Joe Perri.
The Lackawanna County coroner confirms a 51-year-old woman was taken to Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton where she died.
Her daughter was also taken to the hospital but she's expected to be OK.
Firefighters, city fire marshals, and police spent several hours on the scene after the flames were knocked down.
"It was difficult just trying to find the hotspots. That's where a considerable amount of the fire was there on that left side," explained Jack Joyce, Acting Deputy Fire Chief of the Scranton Fire Department. "The fire was under investigation at this time -- 8 people were displaced as a result of the fire and they're being taken care of by the Red Cross."