Two elderly women died Sunday when an early morning fire ripped through their brick bungalow in the Roseland neighborhood.
The victims, Alice Prince,85, and Bertha Vander Ark,73, of 11010 S. Parnell Ave., were pronounced dead on arrival at Roseland Community Hospital. Neighbors said the two women were sisters and were very private people who seldom ventured from their home.
”They had lived on the block longer than anyone else. The house was built by their father,” said one neighbor.
The fire, which started in the basement, was reported at 5:18 a.m. It took firefighters nearly an hour to extinguish the smoky blaze, said Fire Department spokesman Jerry Lawrence.
Sgt. Jerry Adams of the police bomb and arson unit said the fire ”looks accidental,” but he said police were continuing to investigate it. The fire apparently started in an improperly maintained furnace in the basement, Adams said.
The house was not equipped with smoke detectors, Lawrence said.
He said one of the women was found in the basement and the other on the first floor. They were the only occupants of the home.
