A woman has died after a fierce fire tore through a house in Sydney's south early on Tuesday morning, police say.
Emergency services were called to Paringa Place in Bangor just before 5am to reports that a two-storey house was well alight.
A NSW Police spokesman said a man was able to escape from the burning house, but a woman was reported to be still inside the building.
She was understood to be sleeping on the second floor of the house when it went up in flames, and could not escape.
Just after 7am, police confirmed that a body had been found in the burnt-out remains of the house.
Witnesses said the fire was incredibly intense, and the roof of the house collapsed.
Neighbours are understood to have attempted to douse the flames with hoses before firefighters arrived, but the blaze was too intense.
Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman Kieran Taylor said firefighters were had been attacking the fire for about five minutes on both the upstairs and downstairs levels when the roof started collapsing.
"It was very dangerous in there," he said.
"As soon as the structure loses its integrity we need to get crews outside the building for their safety."
NSW Ambulance paramedics treated the man and another person for smoke inhalation, the police spokesman said.
Firefighters remain at the scene, and the cause of the blaze is not yet known.
Police have closed off a number of roads surrounding Paringa Place as fire investigators examine the scene.
This story originally appeared on www.smh.com.au
