Woman dies after apartment fire in Louisville's Shawnee neighborhood

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A woman died after an apartment fire Tuesday morning in the Shawnee neighborhood, according to Louisville Fire Department.

Louisville Fire Lt. Colonel Bobby Cooper said crews went to a fire in the 3600 block of Riverpark Drive around 7:28 a.m. Firefighters responded within four minutes to the fire at a two-story apartment building.

Firefighters found a woman at the apartment and removed her from the fire. She was taken to the hospital but was pronounced dead there.

"Our companies were there within minutes, made entry to try to extinguish the fire, search for victims," said Louisville Fire chief Brian O'Neill. "They found her right away but unfortunately she had already succumb to the smoke."

Her identity and cause of death hasn't been released yet.

Neighbors said they woke up after smelling smoke.

"The smoke detector started going off after I was almost out of the house," said Makenna Benningfield. "It honestly startled me because with the smoke billowing everywhere it was silent and I was just running around trying to call 911, trying to find my cat."

Benningfield lives next to to the unit that cauhgt on fire.

Cooper said the apartment sustained moderate fire damage, but no other units were damaged.

Kentuckiana Red Cross is helping people who were displaced by the fire.

Louisville Fire Department's Arson Bureau is investigating, but a cause of the fire hasn't been determined.

A gofundme account has been set up to help some of the victims. To find out how to donate, click here.