Jersey City row home fire claims life of 32-year-old woman

JERSEY CITY (WABC) -- A late-night fire in New Jersey killed a woman inside a single-family rowhouse.

The flames broke out around 10 p.m. on Fifth Street in Jersey City.

Authorities say three other people, believed to be members of the same family, were able to escape the blaze. But the 32-year-old woman was overcome and could not be rescued, and firefighters recovered her body on the second floor of the two-story home.

Investigators suspect the fire was electrical and started in a cluttered part of the basement. A firefighter also suffered an ankle injury at the scene.

So much of what was inside the house is now debris that litters the front yard.

According to reports, the victim was well known and well liked in the neighborhood, and several neighbors even tried to help her get out of the building as this fire raged.

It is believed that the victim's father was a decorated veteran of the Vietnam war, and her mother was a survivor of 9/11.

A neighbor describes the victim as a "great little lady."