BANGOR – A fire at an apartment house on Cottage Street claimed the life of a local woman early Friday night, officials said.

Althea Marshman, 56, was home at 6:53 p.m. when the fire was reported, and neighbors said flames spouted from the lower front room, which was Marshman’s bedroom.

The fire originated on the first floor of the two-story, wooden dwelling, but the cause of the fire and Marshman’s death were undetermined, according to Sgt. Tim York of the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Marshman lived in her unit with her two brothers, Gerald and Richard Prentiss, who were both home at the time of the fire, but escaped, suffering only minor smoke inhalation. Gerald Prentiss said he and his brother were sleeping when the fire started and only escaped because their neighbor banged at their door after smelling smoke. Neither knew how the fire started.

“I didn’t see nothing,” Gerald Prentiss said while slipping into a borrowed pair of shoes and warm jacket. “It was all smoke. I went back two or three times to get my sister.”

All three units of the home, owned by Roger Griffith of Hudson, were rented with three people occupying the upstairs, two in a rear addition, and Marshman and her brothers downstairs, Griffith said.

Griffith said Marshman had lived in the home for nine years and he had spoken with her earlier in the day Friday.

“It’s a real shock,” Griffith said. He said that he was friendly with Marshman and she had “a good sense of humor.”

William Garvey, 42, just finished moving into his upstairs apartment this week with his wife and stepson. Just before 10:30 p.m., firefighters entered Garvey’s apartment to find his medication before the tenants left for a hotel, which was provided by the American Red Cross.

“They said our [apartment] had smoke damage, but we’re probably going to be OK,” Garvey said.

None of the tenants was allowed back into the home late Friday night, and the medical examiner’s office was at the scene.

The state medical examiner’s office, Bangor Fire Department, Bangor Police Department and the State Fire Marshal’s Office responded to the fire, York said.