Police and fires stand work outside a duplex on Poe Street after a woman was pronounced dead Wednesday afternoon following a fire. Credit: Zac Farber/Berkeleyside
One woman died in a duplex fire near Strawberry Creek Park Wednesday afternoon.
Firefighters went to 1301 Poe St. shortly before 4 p.m. after 911 callers reported the fire and that there might be a victim inside the burning building, Berkeley Fire Department Deputy Chief Keith May said.
When firefighters arrived there were flames and smoke coming from three sides of the building, May said. They forced their way into one unit home and found a woman’s body within, May said. They took her outside where paramedics went to work on her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The other unit in the building had little fire damage, “mostly smoke damage,” May said. The resident who had been living in that unit was planning to go stay with a friend.
The woman who died was in her 60s or 70s, according to her landlord, Steve Moros, who said the unit had been without electricity for months.
Moros was working in the nearby Bancroft Community Garden — he’s the garden’s coordinator — when someone told him they saw smoke. He soon heard from a neighbor that it was his building and he rushed over. “We were banging on the door saying, ‘What’s going on? Are you OK?’” he said. “Smoke is pouring out the windows.”
The cause of the fire was still under investigation Wednesday evening.
The woman’s identity was not immediately available.
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Alex N. Gecan joined Berkeleyside in 2023 as a senior reporter covering public safety. He has covered criminal justice, courts and breaking and local news for The Middletown Press, Stamford Advocate and…
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Zac is editor-in-chief of Berkeleyside, where he has worked as a newsroom leader since April 2021. He specializes in shepherding move-the-needle accountability reporting and thoughtful, well-crafted features….
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