House fire leaves an elderly woman homeless

SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - An elderly woman is homeless after fire ripped through her house. Firefighters said the blaze started in the garage. Neighbors say the elderly woman living there had no idea her house was on fire.

Good Samaritan neighbor, Rick Kane, said he and other neighbors got the woman out before the worst happened.

“The door and it had a glow behind it,” Kane recalled, “I thought it was the garage light and it wasn't. It flickered and was hot, and another gentleman put his hand to it and it was hot. So we immediately attempted to get inside the garage and get water on the fire.”

Kane says he pleaded with the woman to get out of the house. “She said what's going on? And I said your house is on fire! And she said, Oh, that's why there's all this smoke!”

It took firefighters less than an hour to put out the flames, but by then the damage was done.

“Everybody got out safe and sound, there were no injuries so Satellite Beach Fire responded, they were able to extinguish the fire, everyone got out and there were no injuries among firefighters, either,” said Amelia Hitchcock, a detective with the State Fire Marshal's Office.

Neighbors say they didn't hear any alarms going off when they rescued the woman. Firefighters aren’t sure the house had working smoke detectors. Officials say the cause of the fire is still under investigation.