Correction appended: A previous version of this story's photo captions contained an incorrect location of where the fire took place and which agency responded to the blaze.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A late-night house fire in Homosassa on Tuesday killed a retired woman who was trapped inside before firefighters could extinguish the blaze, firefighters in Citrus County and the woman’s family said.
Citrus County Fire Rescue responded to the fire just before midnight in the Sugarmill Woods community just east of the 7 Sisters Springs near the Gulf Coast. The neighborhood is about 70 miles south of Gainesville.
Firefighters found the home nearly completely burning. The fire caused the home’s roof to collapse. They stayed on the scene until about 3:30 a.m. to make sure the fire didn’t spread to nearby homes.
Firefighters searched the home when they arrived but found no one inside, the agency said. While fighting the fire, they noticed a vehicle in the garage and searched again. They found one person who was dead inside.
Kimberly Brooke Powell of Rosendale, New York, said in a phone interview that the family presumes her step-mother, Patricia Conlon Smith, 68, died in Tuesday night’s fire.
Powell said authorities in Florida told the family it would take time to positively identify Smith, but she said it was Smith’s car in the garage and the home was locked where Smith lived alone.
The fire department said it was still investigating the circumstances of the blaze and had not publicly identified who died inside the home.
Smith lived in the home since at least 2007, according to property records, when she was married to Arthur Cody Smith. The couple met in the 1980s and married in March 1986. They lived in Idaho and in New York before retiring to Homosassa. Family members said the couple enjoyed skiing, boating, camping, hunting and fishing. Arthur Smith died in October 2023 at age 72.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s office and the Citrus County Sheriff’s office, according to the fire department.
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