A woman in her 70s died in a two-alarm blaze in Dorchester on Tuesday, the second fatal fire in Boston this year, officials said.
The fire was reported at 2:40 p.m. at 83 Tonawanda St., the Boston Fire Department said in a tweet. The woman was found on the first floor of the two-family home and taken by Boston EMS to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, said Mike Walsh, a fire spokesman.
Officials did not name the victim on Tuesday. Her exact cause of death was not known, Walsh said.
Fire officials said the cause of the fire was an electrical short circuit on the first floor.
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Jennifer Cartee, 39, who lives across the street, said her two children would have tea parties with the victim, whom she described as "universally loved."
Cartee has lived in the neighborhood for nine years. She said the victim was a longtime resident and was very close to the family who owned the home and also lived there. The victim's granddaughter is traveling in from Atlanta, Cartee said.
Neighbors knew she had some mobility issues and knee problems, Cartee said.
She had meals delivered through a meals on wheels program, she said.
"We had concerns for her," Cartee said.
Neighbors gathered Tuesday afternoon across the street from house — a two-and-a-half-story wood-frame building divided into multiple units, with pale yellow siding, white trim, and orange columns and window coverings.
The interior of the house looked gutted.
Walsh said the fire ripped through the first and second floors, causing about $300,000 in damage.
Five people were displaced, fire officials said.
Two firefighters were treated and transported by EMS, one for a cut to the neck and the other for a leg injury, the department said.
The piles of snow that covered the neighborhood did not hinder firefighting efforts, Boston Fire spokesman Steve MacDonald said.
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The first fatal fire in the city this year involved an elderly woman dying in a blaze on Greenwich Street in Dorchester on Jan. 29.
Jennifer Smith can be reached at jennifer.smith@globe.com