FLEMINGTON – An 18-year-old woman perished early Sunday morning in a three-alarm house fire that broke out in the 200 block of High Street, the state police confirmed.

While three family members managed to escape the blaze about 4:30 a.m., Alissa Shayla Demanno was trapped and could not get out, investigators said.

The fire was at the home of Teresa Meadows at 209 High St., police said. The 57-year-old woman along with her two children, daughter Jamie Meadows, 19, and son Nathan Meadows, 21, all got out safely.

Dustin Houtz, chief of the borough’s Goodwill Hose Fire Company, said ambulances transported the three victims to Lock Haven Hospital. Demanno was a friend of Meadows’ daughter and lived with the family, police said.

Houtz said when he heard the fire call, he could see flames and smoke in the sky as he left his house, just a few blocks away. He immediately ordered a second alarm.

When he reached the scene, the Meadows’ home was engulfed in flames and the fire had already spread to a second home at 211 High St., less than five feet away. An adult male, the only occupant who lived in this house, was already out, Houtz said.

Within minutes, Houtz quickly ordered a third alarm as flames were now spreading to 207 High St., a vacant home on the north side of Meadows’ home.

Firefighters donned self-contained breathing apparatus and entered all three homes.

“The occupants who had escaped the Meadows’ home reported (to firefighters) that there still was an occupant trapped inside. Efforts by two of the occupants to try to save Demanno before firefighters arrived were unsuccessful,” a state trooper said in a news release.

“Due to the rapid growth of the fire and the partial collapse of the structure, search and rescue attempts were not possible,” police said in the release.

Houtz said close to 100 firefighters from Clinton, Lycoming and Centre counties battled the flames for at least three hours before the fire was declared under control.

Police said Demanno’s body was recoved “near the end of the fire-suppression effots when the structure could safely be entered,” police said.

“Due to the extensive damage to the Meadows home, the origin and cause of the fire could not be determined, police said.

Firefighters, who were on the scene until 11 a.m., drafted water from four neighborhood hydrants.

Houtz said there has not been a fatal fire in the borough in the 18 years he has been with fire department. It was unknown when the last fatal fire took place in this small community of 1,300 residents.

He said “counseling services” have been made available for all emergency personnel who responded to this tragic blaze.