By Al Novack

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers confirms two people, both long-time roommates in their 70′s, died in an early morning house fire in Germantown.

It occurred inside a home near Chelten and Beachwood Streets. The fire was reported around 3 a.m. and declared under control approximately 20-minutes later.

Commissioner Ayers says a man who was removed by firefighters from the second floor was pronounced dead at nearby Albert Einstein Medical Center.

Later during a secondary search, fire crews found the body of the elderly woman who was pronounced dead at the scene.

The home was equipped with at least one smoke detector that was not operating.

The one-alarm blaze is under investigation.

The two deaths Wednesday morning brings the number of fire-related deaths in Philadelphia for 2012 to 23.