A 74-year-old woman was killed in a west Durham house fire early Tuesday, authorities said.
Frances Regan was trapped in her second-floor bedroom by the fast-moving blaze, which was reported at about 3 a.m., authorities said.
Durham Fire Marshal Harold Boyd said flames had engulfed three-quarters of the house at the intersection of Gate Hill Road and Delwood Drive by the time firefighters arrived.
It took crews several hours before they could get the fire under control and then sift through the remains -- the roof had collapsed into the charred home -- to find Regan's body, authorities said.
"There was so much debris. Some of it was in the house, some of it fell in on the area where the victim was located," Boyd said.
Regan lived alone with her cat in the home, where she had lived for more than 40 years and had raised a family, neighbors said.
"She was a very sweet woman. She loved animals -- she liked my dog, she loved her cat -- just a very sweet woman," said neighbor Karen Brown, who reported the fire.
"I heard a bang and a pop, and I thought it was gunfire," she said. "I came to the side of the house and looked, and the house was totally enflamed."
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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