News

Actions

90-year-old woman safe after house fire on Detroit's east side

Posted
and last updated

A Detroit family sprang into action to save their elderly neighbor after a fire broke out inside her home early Tuesday morning.

According to the Detroit Fire Department, a fire broke out around 3:30 am. at a home on Hickory St. on the city's east side.

Now, the 90-year-old woman, best known as "Miss Harris," said she has nowhere to go.

Jennae Williams said she woke up around 3:30 a.m. with heavy smoke and a fire raging at the home across the street.

"I heard someone screaming ‘help me, help me!’ I’m screaming at my brother like ‘we have to help, we have to help!’ He wakes up out of his sleep, we run over here, and she’s almost out the door but we literally had to pick her up and get her out of the house," Williams said.

She said she and her brother were able to carry their neighbor, 90-year-old Miss Louise Harris, out of the home and to safety.

Video shows firefighters taking the elderly woman on a stretcher to the hospital. Neighbors say she's lived at the home since 1974.

"We all look out for Miss Harris. Everybody knew her, she looked out for the community, she loved the kids, she loved everybody, she’s a beautiful woman," Demetrious Washington said.

The majority of damage is at the back of the house. The Detroit Fire Department said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Norma Black, who attends Galilee Missionary Baptist Church with Miss Harris, said she is physically unharmed.

"She’s tired and she’s resting, she’s still feisty and she was thanking everyone for what they’ve done for her," Black said.

While church members and neighbors band together to help Miss Harris make it through this time, they have started a GoFundMe for her.