A 98-year-old woman died in a devastating house fire in Rockaway Township on Monday, a Morris County Prosecutor's Office spokesperson said.

The fire was was reported at 7:40 a.m. Flames ripped through the two-story Whippoorwill Lane house Monday morning, causing the structure to collapse, former township councilman Tucker Kelley said.

Oddfrid Tokle died in the blaze, according to Meghan Knab, a spokesperson with the prosecutor's office, but her exact cause of death has not been announced.

Kelley lives around the corner from the home, which is in the Lake Telemark section of Rockaway. He ran from his house, saw the fire and tried to enter the building but “the heat was just unbearable.”

“It’s a horrible sight to see," Kelley said. "The amount of volunteer and fire personnel that was on the scene was unbelievable."

"I cannot get over how hot it was and how close the guys fighting the fire got," Kelley said. "Their suits were smoking. That’s how hot it was."

In a Facebook post, Kelley urged community members to donate clothing to a family of five displaced by the fire, and said they would need housing in the near future

The fire is still under investigation, the prosecutor's office said.

Liam Quinn is a breaking news reporter for NorthJersey.com. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.