A 52-year-old Renton woman died in a house fire Monday night in the Highlands that she apparently set herself.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the King County Medical Examiner’s Office had yet to release her identity or cause of death.

Renton police became aware of the woman in recent days because of reports from neighbors that she was threatening them with a large knife.

One neighbor, who didn’t want her name used, said she returned to her nearby home to find the woman sitting in front of her house, in her robe, wielding a knife.

The woman remained in her vehicle and when she drove off, the woman with the knife chased after her, she said.

Neighbors also reported seeing the woman toss knives into the ground.

At about 7:45 p.m. on Monday, Renton police received a 911 call from a 22-year-old woman who lives in the adjoining unit of the duplex in the 600 block of Index Place Northeast.

She had just returned home with her 4-year-old child, when the neighbor came running toward them with a machete and a knife, according to Penny Bartley, a spokeswoman for the Renton Police Department. The young woman fled and called police from a neighbor’s home.

Police soon arrive, but by then the suspect had re-entered her own home. As officers talked with the 22-year-old, the house erupted in flames.

Police officers attempted to enter the house through a door before firefighters arrived, fearing the woman was still inside, according to Bartley. But flames and heat prevented the officers from entering the house.

Hoping to create an escape route for the woman, officers shot out a window with bean bags.

There’s no truth to a neighbor’s allegations that officers fired tear gas into the house, Bartley said. “Absolutely not,” she said.

Firefighters found the woman dead inside.

The woman herself had started the fire using gasoline, according to Bartley and fire investigators. There were several points where the fire started, an indication she had spread the gasoline in the unit, according to Bartley.

Renton fire investigators returned to the scene on Tuesday to complete their investigation.

Bartley said the woman could have faced assault charges had she not died in the fire. The 22-year-old had received some cuts from the knife, she said.

The woman’s erratic behavior also extended to her dog. A neighbor said the dog’s name is Twinkie, a Jack Russell terrier.

Another neighbor, Laurie Trisolini, said she arrived home to find her street filed with fire and police vehicles.

Trisolini said the woman recently became angry with her dog and wouldn’t let it inside the home. The dog barked outside, drawing complaints from neighbors.

“Her dog was her life, that and her goofy garden,” Trisolini said.

Renton police picked up the dog a few days ago and it has been at the Humanes Society shelter in Bellevue, according to Bartley.

The deceased neighbor was already living in her duplex when Trisolini moved in about three years ago.

The neighborhood was hit with tragedy several months ago when a young man was shot fatally in an alleyway.