MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee family is mourning the loss of a 79-year-old woman who died after a house fire Saturday night on the city’s north side.
The Milwaukee Fire Department (MFD) said crews were called to a home near N. 8th Street and W. Messmer Street at 9:23 p.m. for a smoke assignment.
Watch: The brother of the woman who died in a house fire on Milwaukee's North Side on Saturday night remembers her life and recounts what happened.
Firefighters arrived about five minutes later and found heavy smoke on the first floor, according to MFD.
Crews extinguished a stove fire, then searched the home and found the woman inside, according to the fire department. Fire officials said she was the only person in the house.
Family members on Sunday identified her as Helen Dobson.
Her brother, James Greer, said he had gone out to watch a game and get something to eat when he received a call from his grandson, who also lived at the home.
“He said the house is full of smoke,” Greer said.
On Sunday, Greer stood outside the damaged home where he said he had lived for more than 50 years, trying to process both the loss and the destruction left behind.
“The kitchen is destroyed. Whole downstairs destroyed,” he said.
“I can’t get in my home, and it’s hurtin’ my heart," Greer added.
Greer said he hopes his sister is now at peace after enduring difficult losses in her life.
“I think she may be at peace with her son and her husband,” he said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to the Milwaukee Fire Department.
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