Woman dies in house fire in southwest Wichita

Correction: The fire took place at 2938 S. Vine. A previous version of this story had an incorrect address.

Authorities are investigating the death of a woman in a house fire Monday night.

Police asked to check on the welfare of a 61-year-old woman encountered a small fire in the house at  2938 S. Vine shortly before 9 p.m., Wichita Fire Marshal Brad Crisp said. The fire department was called even as an officer used a fire extinguisher to try to put out the flames. The house is near Seneca and 31st Street South.

A fire crew was able to quickly put out the fire upon arrival, Crisp said, but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It was not a very large fire,” Crisp said, estimating the damage to contents at $150.

“There was very little fire damage,” he said. “The fire area was primarily around the fire victim.”

The woman was found between the living room and dining room, Crisp said. An autopsy was performed Tuesday morning.

The victim’s name is not being released until the coroner’s office can confirm her identity, Crisp said.

“There are some complicating circumstances that we need to flush out” before investigators release more information about the incident, Crisp said. “We have a really good idea of how the fire started.”

But Crisp made an effort to calm any nervous neighbors of the victim.

“I don’t believe there’s an arsonist running around in that neighborhood,” he said.

The house had no working smoke detector in it, Crisp said.

“It’s a fatality and there wasn’t a working smoke alarm,” he said. “That always bothers us” because smoke alarms are intended to alert people to the presence of a fire and buy them time to escape.

This is the city’s third fatal fire of 2015, and in each case there was no working smoke alarm, he said.

A 60-year-old man who was smoking while he was on oxygen died in a fire at 2021 N. Old Manor in February and a 61-year-old man died in a fire at 611 E. Doreen on Aug. 15.

“We try to buy people a little time” with smoke alarms, Crisp said. “Accidents and fires do happen.”

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 12:29 PM with the headline "Woman dies in house fire in southwest Wichita."