LANDIS — A residential fire that broke out around 11 p.m. Monday night has claimed the life of Landis resident Karen Safrit, according to a release from the town.

Just after 11 p.m., Adam Bost and his wife, who were on their way home from a basketball game at Salisbury High School where they work, spotted smoke that they initially thought was from a chimney.

“At first I thought oh, that’s nice, someone has a fire going,” Bost said, “but we came around the corner and saw that the entire first floor of this house was on fire.”

Bost immediately stopped and called 911, and as firefighters were arriving, the fire at 619 North Main Street spread to the second floor.

Another neighbor, Paul Hager, said he heard what he thought sounded like a door slamming or popping noises and he looked outside. He could see the house on fire and called 911, and was told they had received a call already. He then dashed across the street to wake neighbors in the house next door just in case the fire spread.

“I heard it before I saw it,” Hager said. “I looked out and at first, I saw the two next door, then I saw the fire.” Hager called emergency services and said he was so distressed he couldn’t think of the house number. “I told them to come to 612 and they’d see it.”

Alderman Tony Corriher lives just a couple houses down from the burned home.

“I had just gone to sleep,” Corriher said. “I heard a siren. I thought they were going out of town. I did not know it was going by my house. I looked through the window and fire was through the roof.”

Corriher said the incident was “just terrible.”

Neighbors outside the fire talked about Safrit, worried that she had been inside at the time.

“We didn’t see her much, but she was pleasant when we did,” Hager said. Karen and her late husband, Roger, were inseparable until his death in 2023, neighbors added. Roger Safrit served on the Landis Board of Aldermen from 2009 to 2015.

Alderman Darrell Overcash described Karen Safrit as well respected.

“When she spoke, you listened,” he said. “She kept Roger straight and she had a time with that, but she would always look you straight in the eye when she talked to you.”

Overcash said that he and the victim did not always see eye to eye.

“I have talked to her about board meetings,” he said. “We had some sparks that flew, but she’d tell you at the end of the day, ‘I still love you.'”

The fire was contained fairly quickly but a search of the home led to the discovery of Safrit’s body.

Whenever someone dies in a fire, it is standard procedure for police to investigate the scene to ensure there is no criminal element, even when there is nothing suspicious about the fire. Landis police and the Rowan County Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating.