CA CA - San Francisco, WhtFem UP5963, 18-99, gray hair, in burning apt, Jan'06

One person was killed and several others escaped Tuesday night when a fire swept through the top floor of a Richmond District apartment building, San Francisco fire officials said.
Officials didn't identify or provide a description of the victim, but neighbors described her as an elderly woman whose mobility might have been limited by a physical disability.
"She used a walker," said Helen Melendez, who lives in the flat next door to the damaged building at 454 20th Ave. near Anza Street. Melendez said the woman lived alone in a unit on the third floor, but she didn't know her by name.
The two-alarm fire, reported at about 7:45 p.m., started in a unit in the back of the third floor and spread to an adjoining unit, said Fire Department spokesman Ken Smith....The victim was found dead inside the three-story building, according to Smith, who did not provide a more specific location.​

Neighbors of an elderly woman who died in a two-alarm fire at an apartment house in San Francisco's Richmond District said she was determined and independent but had difficulty walking and used a cane to climb the stairs to her third-floor apartment.
The woman, who was not identified pending notification of relatives, was believed to be a 73-year-old former employee of a real estate office who lived alone and used a walker and a supermarket cart to get around the neighborhood.
The fire broke out in her apartment at the back of 454 20th Ave. around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday and sent flames and smoke shooting from two rear windows.
After neighbors of the six-unit building fled to the sidewalk, they noticed that the woman was not among them. They alerted firefighters, who entered her apartment but were too late to save her.
"It was really hot and smoky, and it was a battle getting inside," said Fire Department spokesman Ken Smith.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
A neighbor who lived in an apartment one floor below the victim said she often saw her come and go, negotiating the stairs with difficulty and using a walker or a borrowed shopping cart to get to a market half a block north.
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