Woman, 21, dies after garage fire in NW Indiana

A 21-year-old woman died after being pulled from a burning garage Tuesday afternoon in Highland, Indiana.

Crews responded about 1 p.m. to the blaze behind Sara Smith’s home in the 9300 block of Oday Drive, according to Highland Fire Chief Bill Timmer and the Lake County coroner’s office.

Smith was found in the garage and taken to Methodist Hospitals’ Northlake Campus in Gary, where she died at 1:55 p.m., authorities said.

It took firefighters about 15 minutes to bring the fire under control, and it was out within the hour, Timmer said. No one else was hurt.

The cause and manner of Smith’s death are under investigation, as is the source of the fire.