House Fire Leaves 1 Woman Dead, 1 Woman Injured

Two elderly women tried to escape a Dallas home that caught fire early Sunday morning but officials say one didn't make it out.

A neighbor helped one of the women to safety from the home in the 10200 block of Newcombe Drive after the fire started about 6 a.m., fire department spokesman Jason Evans said. By the time he attempted to help the second woman, the flames made the home inaccessible, Evans said.

Neighbor Veronica Flores tells NBC 5 she woke to the sounds of the fire across the street, called 911 and told her parents. Her father, she says, raced out of bed to help the women inside the burning house.

"He didn't even put on any shoes, no sweater, nothing and ran out of the house," said Flores. Her father was able to help one of the women outside. The other, identified by neighbors as Barbara Cope, didn't make it.

Another neighbor said Cope was once a notable figure in the 1960's music scene known by the nickname "Butter Queen". The term made it into a Rolling Stones song and earned Cope some degree of celebrity as a well-known groupie.

Flores says she and her family simple knew Cope as Barbara, a kind neighbor and loving friend.

The woman who was helped to safety was hospitalized.