Authorities in Alton have determined that a woman whose body was found in a home on fire took her own life.

Police told the media in a press release that the woman, 43 whose name has not yet been revealed, hung herself in the basement of her home after she apparently started a fire in the garage.

Residents of Orchard Boulevard called 9-1-1 at just before 2 a.m. Wednesday to report a fire at a home there. The woman's children were not at home at the time the fire started. They were staying with their father at the time.

Alton Fire Chief Bernie Sebold said Wednesday that the fire seemed to be intentionally set because it spread so quickly.