"She was mad at me for coming in," said Allen Donehoo, a delivery man who noticed smoke billowing out of the building Friday. "I said 'I'm sorry, there's a fire' and tried to get her out. She wasn't coming too easily."
Smoke was entering the basement apartment even as the woman resisted Donehoo's rescue attempt. Donehoo said she was worried about her cats, which he thinks were all rescued.
"I don't think she realized the severity of it," he said.
"The whole top of the building was in flames."
The woman's apartment was one of three in the building.
Investigators believe an unattended candle in one of the other apartments started the fire. There were no injuries.
