Fire Victim’s Name Revealed

The name of the woman who died on Wednes­day after being injured last Tues­day in a fire in Defi­ance was released over the week­end. 48 year old Penel­lopie Wit­tig died Wednes­day at Mercy St. Vin­cent Med­ical Cen­ter in Toledo where she had been taken by air ambu­lance from Mercy Defi­ance Hos­pi­tal on the night of the fire on Ravine Avenue. Wit­tig lived in the upstairs apart­ment of the duplex. An elderly woman in the down­stairs apart­ment was able to escape and is being cared for by the Red Cross. The state fire marshal’s office is inves­ti­gat­ing. So far, they say foul play is not con­sid­ered a cause, and they say it appears as if the fire began in the upstairs bed­room, although an exact cause is still not known. Dam­age to the build­ing was esti­mated at about $100,000. A build­ing next door also suf­fered heat dam­age to its vinyl sid­ing amount­ing to about $3,000.