Woman dead, firefighter injured after fire in Hammond, Indiana

CHICAGO (CBS)-- An elderly woman is dead and a firefighter is injured, after a house fire in Hammond, Indiana early Tuesday morning. 

The Hammond Fire Department confirmed a person was found dead when firefighters arrived at the house, in the 7200 block of Lindberg Avenue, around 4 a.m. The victim's family identified her as 72-year-old Jacqueline McEntire.

The injured firefighter fell through a floor of the house. Fire officials said other firefighters pulled him out of the living room of the home.

The firefighter was treated for second degree burns on his legs, and was later released from Munster Community Hospital.  

Burned-up pieces of the living room were left scattered on the front lawn after the fire. The home's windows were shattered, and the front door was gone.

The frame of his parents' house looks intact, but Chris Tuttle no longer sees a home.

"I wouldn't wish this upon anybody," he said.

Tuttle said he was watching the morning news when he recognized the burning house on TV.

"I guess it happened at 4 o'clock this morning, and I found out at 7," he said.

Hammond Fire Department officials said the first firefighter on the scene crawled into the house as smoke and fire poured out.

"The floorboards from the basement up were severely charred, and that's why the firefighter fell through," Tuttle said.

That firefighter fell through the floor and burned his legs.

He was rescued in time, but it was too late for Tuttle's mother.

"She was trying to make it out of the house and didn't make it," Tuttle said.

McEntire was home alone when the fire started.

"I mean, I didn't just lose a mom. I lost a best friend, a confidante. I could tell my mom anything, and she didn't judge me for it," Tuttle said.

Tuttle said his mother lived for the Lake County Fair, and settled into the house on Lindberg Avenue decades ago.

"My folks lived here 40-plus years," Tuttle said.

A house that no longer looks or feels like home.

"The house is gone. Everything in it's gone," he said. "A lot of lost memories. … It's hard to replace memories."

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.