One person and two pets are dead and a second person was seriously injured in a Delaware house fire.
The blaze broke out Wednesday night just after 9:30 on the 1200 block of Sycamore Avenue in Elsmere taking the life of Mary Ellen Nelson, her cat and her dog, according to fire officials.
"This is the first fire death I can remember in Elsmere in a while. I’ve been with the company 45 years, and we’ve not had a fire death in the town of Elsmere fire district yes, this is the first fire death we’ve had in a while," Fire Chief George Giles told NBC10.
Officials tell NBC10's Tim Furlong that Nelson's husband, Dennis, was able to escape the flames, but not without serious injury. He is being treated at the burn center at Crozer Chester Medical Center.
The fire started in the basement of the row home and were fed by a broken gas line, Giles told NBC10.
"Took us about an hour to control the fire. The fire was fed by a broken gas line that we could not shut off and we had to wait until Delmarva came here [to shut it off]", Giles said.
Two nearby homes were also damaged in the fire.
The Delaware State Fire Marshal's office is investigating the blaze.
