CARLSBAD (CBS 8) - An elderly woman died in a house fire in Carlsbad Tuesday night. 
 
 Carlsbad firefighters say the fire started around 8:00 p.m. Tuesday night in the 2300 block of Caringa Way. 
 
 Crews say when they arrived on the scene a woman in her late 70's was inside the home unresponsive. Firefighters tried life-saving measures on the woman but she was pronounced dead on the scene. 
 
 "It's really sad to see especially someone coming out like that,” said neighbor Nathan Mandeoenis. 
 
 Investigators are working to find out what caused the fire and where it started in the home. Neighbors tell CBS News 8 the woman was a hoarder and she recently had a garage sale. 
 
 “I think maybe she was trying to clear things out and she had been trying for quite a while,” said neighbor Monty Herron. 
 
 Carlsbad Division Fire Chief Mike Lopez says the environment in the home made it difficult for them to attack the fire, “We were met with some resistance and that was the heavy combustibles trying to get in." 
 
 The woman has not been identified. 
 
 Four families living on either side of the fire were impacted and not allowed in their home until further notice. 
 
 Vista, San Marcos and Encinitas Fire Departments responded to the scene. ||||| NBC 7's Dave Summers reports on the death of a Carlsbad woman who was found in a cluttered home on Caringa Way. (Published Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014) 
 
 Carlsbad Fire Death May Be Caused by Hoarding 
 
 A Carlsbad woman whose cluttered home caught fire Tuesday evening has died. 
 
 The flames sparked at a condominium complex in the 2300 block of Caringa Way, just before 8 p.m., forcing residents next door to run from their home. 
 
 Firefighters say clutter blocked their entrance into the home and, once inside, made it difficult for them to maneuver. 
 
 The woman in her late 70s was found unresponsive on the first floor. 
 
 Despite efforts to save her, she was pronounced dead at the home. 
 
 Neighbor Arlene Cooperson told NBC 7 she warned the victim to clean her home or bear the consequences. 
 
 "She's a hoarder," she said. "Things have to be done; they can't avoid them." 
 
 The 2-alarm fire damaged four of the adjoining units. Firefighters say the residents won't be allowed to return until Wednesday. 
 
 The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.
– It was so cluttered in a home that caught fire last night in Carlsbad, Calif., that firefighters couldn't even get inside at first—and once they did, it was too late to save the elderly woman who lived there, NBC 7 reports. The unidentified woman, said to be in her late '70s, was found unresponsive on the first floor of her condo and pronounced dead at the scene, despite the firefighters' efforts to keep her alive. The cause of the complex's two-alarm fire, which sent residents running to escape the blaze, hasn't been determined, and residents in four neighboring condo units that were damaged were vacated from their homes until at least sometime today. One neighbor tells NBC 7 that she tried to get the woman to clean her home before, but to no avail. "She's a hoarder," says the neighbor. Firefighters acknowledge they had trouble getting through the entrance and then more trouble getting around inside. But at least one other neighbor mentions the woman may have been trying to clean up her act, recently holding a garage sale. "I think maybe she was trying to clear things out and she had been trying for quite a while," he tells CBS News 8. (A Texas community was also hit hard yesterday in a fire that killed five children.)