Woman dies in Plymouth fire

PLYMOUTH — An elderly woman died and a man was transported to a hospital following a third-alarm fire that heavily damaged two houses and impacted a third house on Morris Street Monday morning.

Plymouth Good Will Hose Co. #2 Fire Chief Josh Evans said the elderly woman was trapped on the second floor of 40 Morris St., and later died. Her name has not been released.

A firefighter suffered a minor injury at the scene, Evans said, but was not taken to a hospital.

Plymouth firefighters responded to the blaze just before 8 a.m. finding two houses – 40 and 41 Morris St. with flames coming from the second floor of both structures. An occupied structure at 39 Morris St. also suffered heat and water damage.

A second-alarm and then a third-alarm was called for more manpower and equipment, Evans said.

Edwardsville Fire Department’s aerial truck was set up on Morris St. and extended its ladder over three homes as firefighters battled the blaze with an exterior attack.

Firefighters from Edwardsville, Kingston, Larksville, Nanticoke, Hanover Township and Wilkes-Barre City responded to the third-alarm fire, including tanker trucks from Jackson Township.

Evans said there were no issues with hydrants as firefighters had excellent water supply.

“When we arrived on scene, there were two houses with heavy fire load on the second floors of both structures,” Evans said. “It went to a second alarm, we had an elderly woman on the second floor (40 Morris St.), and we just confirmed she perished in the fire.”

It took firefighters nearly two hours to bring the blaze under control as they continued to extinguish hot spots and pockets of fire in the roof and roof’s eves of 40 and 41 Morris St.

A resident of 41 Morris St. was taken to a hospital for burns.

UGI Electric Co. shut off the electrical grid to the area.

Evans said the Pennsylvania State Police deputy fire marshal is investigating the cause of the blaze.