CRESCENT SPRINGS, Ky. — A woman is dead after an early Sunday morning fire in Crescent Springs, Crescent Springs/Villa Hills Fire & EMS said.
The fire occurred shortly before 3:30 a.m. at a mobile home in the 2400 block of Terra Cotta Street.
According to fire officials, Kenton County Dispatch received a call at 3:20 a.m. about a single-family residence fire. A second call was then made, saying there was an immobile person and three pets still inside the home.
When firefighters arrived, they found heavy fire on the front side of the mobile home. The fire was immediately upgraded, and other units responded from Fort Mitchell, Erlanger, Edgewood and Fort Wright, officials said.
Video of the fire shared with us shows smoke and flames filling the sky.
You can watch that video below:
We spoke with the family of the victim outside the home Sunday afternoon as they salvaged what they could. They identified the woman as 75-year-old Margaret Talmage, whom they all called Marlene.
Stanley Laycock, who is Talmage's son-in-law and also lives at the mobile home with his wife, described the moment he noticed the flames.
"I woke up and I smelled the smoke, and then I go over and tried to get my mother-in-law out, she's on the couch, I hollered and screamed, I guess it scared my dogs. I hollered at her and she didn't say nothing. Next thing I know, a big cloud of smoke, a big plume," Laycock said.
"I almost didn't make it myself," Laycok said.
Officials located Talmage and two of the three pets roughly 20 minutes after they were called. The fire was then under control 30 minutes after firefighters initially arrived.
Talmage's family described her as a very strong person who took care of people and was a good mom.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Kenton County Fire Investigation Team. Officials said there were no working smoke detectors in the home at the time of the fire.
Billy Talmage, Margaret's son and brother to Michelle, who lives in the home, told us that fire officials informed him it was an electrical fire.
"Fire chief said her youngest German Shepherd was laying across her chest, and they both died," Talmage said.
The family is trying to salvage what they can from inside the house.
WATCH: Margaret's children share their feelings and what they'll miss about their mother
"I just went in, believe it or not, I found her phone underneath a book that I bought her, and it still works," Talmage said.
Both siblings recall the care their mother showed to those around her.
"My mom was a good mom, lived through hard times," Michelle Laycock said. "She took care of people."
"She could go up to a stranger and talk to a stranger, and she don't care, she'll help anybody out," Talmage said.
Talmage said his mother loved crafts, art and even dirt track racing.
