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Neighbours have detailed how they desperately tried to help a woman screaming for help as her home went up in flames.
Joyce Lewis was killed as the fire took hold of her home in North Willoughby about 9.30am on Saturday morning.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Joyce Lewis identified as victim of North Willoughby fire.
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Neighbours told 7NEWS they rushed over with ladders and chairs in a frantic bid to try to reach Lewis, who was screaming for help from an upstairs window.
“She was screaming my name,” neighbour Arman Kum, who has lived next-door to Lewis for decades, told 7NEWS.
“Arman, help me. Arman, I’m burning.”
Joyce Lewis has been identified as the victim of a house fire in North Willoughby on Saturday morning. Credit: 7NEWS
Kum said he couldn’t sleep that night as he wondered what more he could have done.
“I grabbed a brick (and) threw it through the window, I tried to barge the door, no effect,” Kum said.
“I’m just shattered. Why couldn’t I do more?”
Joyce Lewis was home alone at the time of the fire. Credit: 7NEWS
More than 40 firefighters rushed to Lewis’ two-storey home, attacking the blaze from all four sides, Fire and Rescue NSW said.
One firefighter burnt his hand while trying to access the second storey and was taken to Royal North Hospital.
No one was able to reach Lewis.
It took several hours before the property was deemed safe to search, with Lewis’ body found that evening.
“(It’s) absolutely devastating that this has actually happened on our street,” neighbour Luisa Bonaccorso said.
“It’s a horror movie.”
Crews have contained the blaze at a Sydney house but one person is unaccounted for. Credit: AAP
Lewis was home alone at the time of the fire, with her husband away on a work trip to Queensland. Her children are understood to live overseas.
An investigation is under way into the cause of the fire and a report will be prepared for the coroner.
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