Harris County house fire: Body found during search for missing woman on Imperial Grove

Houston fire: Human remains found following massive fire on Thursday

After a day long search for a woman, firefighters Friday found human remains in the rubble of a house fire in northwest Houston.

HOUSTON - Firefighters recovered a body as they searched for a 20-year-old woman who was unaccounted for after a Harris County house fire.

The identity of the person who was found has not been confirmed.

Body found after house fire

What we know:

On Friday afternoon, the Northwest Volunteer Fire Department said a person was found dead in the rubble of a home that had burned in a fire in the 5500 block of Imperial Grove the day before.

What we don't know:

The identity of the person who was found in the home or their gender has not been confirmed.

"Just a few minutes ago, we located what we believe to be a deceased individual inside the structure. We do not know the identity of that person. We do not know if it’s a male or female," said Chief Wesley Cole of the Northwest Volunteer Fire Department. 

FULL UPDATE: Body found during search of burned house

A body has been found while firefighters searched for a missing woman who was unaccounted for after a Harris County house fire.

What's next:

The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office will identify the person and how they died. The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office will investigate how and where the fire started in the home.

Woman unaccounted for after house fire

Photo from the scene. (Source: Harris County Fire Marshals Office/X)

The backstory:

A three-alarm fire sparked up at the home on Imperial Grove on Thursday afternoon.

Officials said two of the residents were not at home, but a third person – a 20-year-old woman – was unaccounted for. Her family wasn’t sure if she was home at the time.

After the fire was extinguished, firefighters continued to search the home for the woman. It’s not yet known if the remains found in the home are those of the missing woman. Her identity has not been released.

"An anthropologist is actually going to come out, and they are going to very thoroughly remove the debris that is still around the deceased individual so that we make sure we do a thorough job of our investigation and removing those remains and doing it with dignity," said Chief Cole.