Neighbors mourn woman killed in southwest Miami-Dade house fire

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – An investigation is underway after an elderly woman was killed in a house fire in southwest Miami-Dade Tuesday morning.

According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, the fire broke out just after 6:30 a.m. and crews arrived to find extensive smoke coming from the back of the home, located in the 10900 block of Southwest 138th Court in The Hammocks.

Donna Dareff was found dead inside. Neighbors stopped by Dareff’s home to deliver flowers Tuesday.

Arturo Perez, who has lived down the road for 31 years, said Dareff took care of her elderly parents in the years before their passing.

“The people that I knew were her parents,” Perez said. “Her mother passed away, and then she took care of her father. After the father passed away about three years ago, she moved in and she was more or less to herself most of the time.”

Authorities said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.