Couple killed in early morning rowhome fire in Wilmington

An early morning fire in the Brownstone section of Wilmington claiming the lives of a couple and injuring two firefighters. Our Dylan Scott is there now with the latest and Dylan this is just a tragedy. Shiva good evening absolutely it is such a tragedy now the cause of the fire is still under investigation but what we do know is two beloved members of this community are now gone and everyone here says they are simply devastated. My oldest sister is gone her and her husband okay both of them was going it was a bad fire that took the life of both of them family and friends of Tanya and John Poteet are searching for answers after an early morning blaze Tuesday claimed their lives at their row home on 8th and Maryland Avenue right now I'm just in shock I'm in shock so I'm gonna have we all had our moments out here so right now I'm in shock and I probably gonna have another moment or two the Wilmington Fire Department says a call came in around 2 45 a.m. related to a house fire with entrapment. Several crews responded to battle the three-story row home blaze that included a collapsed floor. After being forced out several times, firefighters were able to extinguish the flames and locate the Petites, who unfortunately were found deceased. The cause of their deaths and the fire are under investigation. First, second, and third floor they had fire that was exiting you know obviously the windows you know or guys and girls they did a very aggressively safe you know interior attack um the fire obviously was you know had had a head start on us it was a lot second and third floor were almost completely engulfed in flames at a certain point it was it was a lot um really scary in addition nearby homes did receive some structural damage. Two firefighters also suffered minor injuries in the blaze but are expected to make full recoveries. However, the loss of this beloved couple has the community struggling to make sense of a heartbreaking tragedy. Excellent people. Excellent. I miss my mom. She was fun. She was loving. She loved her grandkids. She loved everybody. She loves everybody. So same thing with my stepdad. He loved everyone too. Just laid back and chill. He loved his grandchildren his daughters and stuff they were very family oriented yeah an absolute tragedy now investigators tell us they're not only looking into what caused this fire but what the long-term structural damage is to the facilities and the houses behind us when we learn more about this of course we'll get that to you reporting live in Wilmington, Dylan Scott, Fox 29 News