Woman killed in first-alarm apartment fire

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Firefighters worked effortlessly performing CPR on a woman they rescued out of a burning apartment in Phoenix on Friday morning.

The 50-year-old was pronounced dead at the hospital just hours later.

"The whole complex was all smoky, it was all covered in smoke," a neighbor said.

When crews arrived at the complex near Dunlap and 19th Avenue just before 2 a.m. The first floor unit was fully engulfed in flames and smoke and firefighters found the woman inside as they searched for residents.

"It was pretty bad," a neighbor said. "It was black in the back, you could see it was coming outside the Arcadia door. It was coming out and going up."

As the thick smoke filled the early morning sky, crews worked to keep the blaze from spreading. Three other units next door to and above the victim's apartment have smoke and water damage and those residents were evacuated.

"I was scared for the families and the little baby next door; making sure everyone got out," a neighbor said. "When I saw one of the firefighters wanting to come in I told him that's my house, my son is in there. They told me get your son out now. I grabbed my son, took him out."

The Red Cross was called out to help those without a place to stay and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.