Woman dies in Darby fire on her birthday

By STEPHANIE FARR, farrs@phillynews.com 215-854-4225
Posted: January 24, 2011

Twenty-six years to the day after she came into this world, Dominique Gibson left it, when she died yesterday - on her birthday - in a house fire in Darby Borough.

Although her home had heat, Police Chief Robert Smythe said investigators believe Gibson was using her stove as a supplemental heat source, and that is what started the blaze.

"That's something people do sometimes," he said. "It's a very dangerous habit they have, but they do it."

The blaze broke out about 3:45 a.m. at the three-story house on Main Street near 10th.

Although it was home to three apartments, Smythe said that the house, built in 1872, has been used for everything from a doctor's office to a flight school. An airplane simulation on the roof since the 1970s has always made it stand out.

Authorities were able to rescue the first-floor resident; the occupant of the third-floor apartment was not at home at the time, Smythe said.

It took firefighters several minutes to battle back the blaze enough to reach Gibson's second-floor apartment. She was found in a kitchen hallway.

She was pronounced dead at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital at 4:20 a.m., Smythe said.

Aside from the fire, officials had to battle frigid conditions that caused serious icing.

"The water conditions were horrendous - we were just pouring tons of salt on the street," Smythe said. "People were slipping everywhere."

Two firefighters suffered minor injuries.

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