Female dies after late-night house fire on west side

UPDATE: The victim has been identified as 70-year-old Laura Drust.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A female has died after her rescue from a house fire late Thursday night, the Wayne Township Fire Department said Friday afternoon.

A news release from the fire department did not give the female’s name or age. News 8 reached out to the Marion County Coroner’s Office for the victim’s identity.

Firefighters from Wayne Township and Speedway departments were called Thursday night to a working house fire with entrapment in the 1400 block of North Furman Avenue. That’s in a residential area northeast of the intersection of North Girls School Road and West 10th Street on the west side. The release did not say what time the fire was reported, but said firefighters went to the scene “late Thursday night into early Friday morning.”

The female who died was an occupant in the house. She was taken to the emergency room at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, where she died.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, the release said.

Capt. Eric Banister of the Wayne Township department also said in the release, “Fire crews had increased difficulty with fire attack and victim search and removal due to the volume of material inside the residence. Also discovered in the fire were four family pets that also died from their injuries.”