SUN CITY, AZ — One person is dead after a residential structure fire early Friday morning in Sun City.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office says it happened near 107th Avenue and Peoria Avenue just after 2:15 a.m. Friday.
MCSO says when emergency responders arrived, they found two condos on fire. One was fully engulfed, while the other was partially on fire.
After firefighters put out the flames, they found someone dead inside one of the condos.
All other occupants reportedly made it out safely.
Authorities have not released the identity of the woman who died, but neighbors described her as a character.
“She was a trip,” one neighbor said. “She was fun. She could laugh at different stuff and she had a southern attitude that was really fun.”
Barbara Goetsch and her family lived in the adjoining duplex. She woke up around 2 a.m. and knew something was wrong.
“I got one whiff and I thought something isn't right here. There's something going on. Something smells,” Goetsch told ABC15. “By the time i got to the front door, I could hear the whistles and I thought, ‘we're on fire!’”
Goetsch and her family were able to make it out of the home safely and now the American Red Cross is assisting them in finding a new place to stay.
“We're together and we're safe,” Goetsch said. “Everything that we loved is gone, but it can be replaced.”
