An early morning fire tore through a Staten Island home on Thursday, killing a woman asleep in the attic, witnesses and officials said. Dorothy Adonolfi, 40, was found unconscious in the smoky top floor of the Elm Park home just before 6:30 a.m. Firefighters carried her down through the flames to a waiting ambulance, which rushed her Richmond University Medical Center, but she died a short time later.

The other residents of the three-story Morningstar Road home managed to escape on their own and were being assisted by the Red Cross late Thursday. No one else was hurt in the blaze, which took firefighters about 20 minutes to extinguish, officials said. Fire marshals believe the fire broke out after combustible materials were left near an electric heater in the attic, FDNY officials said.

Several mattresses were strewn outside the somewhat dilapidated home, and investigators were exploring whether it was being used as a flophouse, law enforcement sources said. Fire marshals found smoke detectors in the charred building, but the devices were not working, FDNY officials said.