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, according to officials. Crews had to first “sure up the structure” before firefighters could enter the home, Walker said. James Williams, a neighbor, told NBC10 he had concerns about the woman’s health when he saw her driving as well as the condition of her home. “It looked like her roof was getting ready to collapse and you could notice during the windstorms and rainstorms that the water was getting underneath the roof,” he said. “So, you could obviously see from outside the roof was in disrepair or getting ready to collapse.” Licenses and Inspections (L&I) placed a sign on the home marking it imminently dangerous as the investigation continues. “You never know what someone’s life is like and the state of the house looks like she was having trouble caring for her house and maybe for herself as well,” Mary Ann Case, another neighbor, told NBC10. “Nobody should have to die alone and in trouble like that.” Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox. ...read more read less