IFD: Woman, dog die in east side fire; home had no working smoke alarms
UPDATE: The woman who died in a house fire Monday on Irvington Avenue was identified by the coroner as 61-year-old Theresa Murry.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A woman and her dog died in a house fire Tuesday morning on the city’s east side, the Indianapolis Fire Department said.
Firefighters were called just after 6 a.m. Tuesday to the 1200 block of North Irvington Avenue. That’s a residential area near the intersection of 10th Street and Ritter Avenue, and near Community East Hospital.
Firefighters found a woman trapped in the home. She was rescued and taken to a hospital in critical condition, where she died just before 7 a.m. Tuesday.
The Marion County Coroner’s Office will determine how and why the woman died and will share her name after her family is notified.
IFD says the woman’s dog did not survive the fire.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Fire investigators found no working smoke alarms in the house, according to Battalion Chief Rita Reith. They found a working carbon monoxide detector and several purchased smoke alarms in their original packaging.
The Indianapolis Fire Department has responded to six fatal fires in 2023; the department recorded the same number of fatal fires in all of 2022, Reith said.
She said in a statement, “The IFD believes that one fire fatality in our district is 1 too many. The fact that we have had 6 fire fatalities in one month, 5 of those with no working smoke alarm, is very concerning to us.”
Anyone in the IFD service district who needs a smoke alarm can request one online. City ordinance requires each home to have one 10-year sealed smoke alarm per floor. Once the smoke alarm request is submitted, the fire department will reach out to coordinate a time and date for installation.
