09-12-2011, 12:15 PM
Smoking in bed, oxygen tank likely to blame for apartment fire
TEMPE, Ariz. – Investigators believe a woman who was smoking in bed inadvertently started a fire at a Tempe apartment complex early Monday morning.
It happened at about 2:30 a.m. at Elliot Point Apartments in a neighborhood near Elliot and Kyrene roads.
According to firefighters on the scene, the woman was smoking in bed when she fell asleep. Her oxygen tank was right next to her bed where that cigarette was smoldering.
The building’s sprinkler system helped contain the flames to the woman’s apartment.
“That [sprinkler system] played a major role in stopping the fire spread,” said Nick Ells, a firefighter with the Guadalupe Fire Department. “It held it check until we were able to get here and extinguish it.”
That early containment helped firefighters get things under control quickly.
The woman, believed to be in her 60s, was hurt in the fire. Video from the scene showed paramedics administering oxygen before they took her to a local hospital. While the nature of her injures was not immediately available, she is expected to recover.
Several nearby apartments were evacuated as a precaution. Those people were eventually allowed back inside their homes.
Damage was limited to the one unit.
No other injuries were reported.
TEMPE, Ariz. – Investigators believe a woman who was smoking in bed inadvertently started a fire at a Tempe apartment complex early Monday morning.
It happened at about 2:30 a.m. at Elliot Point Apartments in a neighborhood near Elliot and Kyrene roads.
According to firefighters on the scene, the woman was smoking in bed when she fell asleep. Her oxygen tank was right next to her bed where that cigarette was smoldering.
The building’s sprinkler system helped contain the flames to the woman’s apartment.
“That [sprinkler system] played a major role in stopping the fire spread,” said Nick Ells, a firefighter with the Guadalupe Fire Department. “It held it check until we were able to get here and extinguish it.”
That early containment helped firefighters get things under control quickly.
The woman, believed to be in her 60s, was hurt in the fire. Video from the scene showed paramedics administering oxygen before they took her to a local hospital. While the nature of her injures was not immediately available, she is expected to recover.
Several nearby apartments were evacuated as a precaution. Those people were eventually allowed back inside their homes.
Damage was limited to the one unit.
No other injuries were reported.
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