A woman in her 60s died in a two-alarm fire that had threatened to burn the neighboring homes on either side of the brick house at 1111 Varner Road in Whitehall.

The fire call came in from a neighbor at 1:27 a.m. today but by the time police and firefighters arrived, the house was impossible to enter.

"There was no way I was going to let my people attempt to make entry. The police had tried to go in a back door but the smoke pushed them back out. There was fire coming out of almost every entry to the house," said Whitehall Fire Chief Lee Price.

Mr. Price said the victim, Ursula Holewinski, 66, lived in the house alone.

He said neighbors told him that they had started smelling smoke around 9 p.m. Saturday and had looked around but couldn't find anything suspicous. "It was dark and cold and all. They probably thought it was a fireplace somewhere,'' he said.

The chief noted that firefighters were put on immediate "defense mode,'' in an effort to protect the brick houses on either side of the burning house. About 50 volunteers from Whitehall, Castle Shannon, Brentwood and Pleasant Hills were on hand. The houses are about 20 feet apart.

Chief Price said he had "no doubt" the woman had succumbed by the time emergency responders were on the scene. Her body was found in the basement, but the chief said both the upper and lower floors had collapsed into the basement so it is unclear where she was when she perished.

The fire was brought under control by about 3:21 a.m. but firefighters remained on the scene tackling hot spots until about noon.

There is no indication that there is anything suspicious about the fire but the Allegheny County Fire Marshal will be investigating the cause.

There was no damage to the neighboring houses. The fire chief observed that had the fire broken out on a weekday, the neighboring houses likely would have burned due to a lack of available volunteer manpower when people are at work.