An elderly woman was found dead inside a home along a Philadelphia cul-de-sac Monday after the first floor collapsed into the basement. Philadelphia firefighters could be seen going in and out of the house along Mt. Airy Place in the West Mt. Airy neighborhood midday on March 17, 2025. First r esponders got a call from a neighbor to do a welfare check and then found the woman dead in debris after arriving a little after 12: 15 p.m., Philadelphia Fire Department Assistant Chief Charles Walker said. “We have no idea when this collapse actually occurred,” Walker said. Neighbors told investigators that the woman lived alone in the house, Walker said. “There’s no way of telling where she was actually at in the structure when the collapse actually took place,” Walker said. It wasn’t clear how long the woman had been dead, officials said. Crews had to first “sure up the structure” before firefighters could enter the home, Walker said. Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox. ...read more read less