BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — A woman is dead after a Monday evening fire in Benton Harbor.
It happened just before 6:50 p.m. at 1111 McAlister St., the Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety said Tuesday.
Public safety officers say they saw heavy smoke coming from the downstairs apartment when they arrived, as well as heavy flames coming from the back of the residence.
Bystanders told firefighters that there was at least one person in the downstairs apartment.
Benton Harbor and St. Joseph public safety officers immediately went into the lower apartment and found a woman inside.
She was quickly removed from the apartment and rushed to a waiting ambulance, then taken to Lakeland Hospital.
The woman succumbed to her injuries and was declared deceased at the hospital at 9:41 p.m.
Michigan State Police fire investigators, assisted by the Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety Fire Marshal, are investigating the cause of the fire.
No information regarding the cause and origin was immediately available.
Officials are withholding the victim’s name “for the sake of the family.”
