PARKVILLE, Mo. --
Platte County authorities are investigating a house fire early Wednesday morning that killed an 86-year-old woman.
Firefighters were called to the home in the 7600 block of Northwest Monticello Terrace at about 3 a.m.
The homeowner said he awoke after hearing some sort of blast in the kitchen and saw fire quickly spreading.
The man woke up his wife, 15-year-old daughter and his wife's mother. All were scrambling to get out, but Patricia C. Wolcott did not get out in time. Firefighters said they found her body at the bottom of the stairs, just a few feet from the door.
"She was so friendly. She was always asking me about stuff. She was a really nice lady. You can't get any nicer than she was," said Jacob Fischer, 15, who is a friend of the family. "I can't believe it happened."
It took several hours to put out the fire. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
This is the first fire death in the Southern Platte Fire District since 1985.
