St. Georges house fire critically injures woman, under investigation

Residents of the St. Georges Heights neighborhood in St. Georges awoke early Saturday morning to the smell of something burning.

“I could see smoke, like something was on fire,” one woman who asked to remain anonymous said.

The woman said she could see the blaze in the back room of her neighbor’s house on Center Street from her dining room window and told her mother to call 911. She then tried to check on her neighbor, but she couldn’t make it through the smoke.

Delaware City Volunteer Fire Company arrived soon after 3 a.m. to find “flames shooting from the house,” Assistant State Fire Marshal Michael G. Chionchio said. A 71-year-old woman was trapped inside, according to Chionchio, but firefighters were able to go through the front door and rescue her.

Paramedics resuscitated the woman while the blaze was put out, Chionchio said. The neighbor who reported the fire said she saw first responders carry the 71-year-old outside and lay her in the front yard before working to “get her heart beating again.”