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StumbleWoman, cat die in North Las Vegas fire
North Las Vegas Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Brame (bottom left) talks to another fire official Wednesday morning after an early-morning blaze at 3906 Redfield Ave. killed an elderly woman and her cat. Fire officials said smoking materials appear to be the cause of the accidental fire.
Published Wednesday, July 28, 2010 | 8:51 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, July 28, 2010 | 12:41 p.m.
An early-morning fire Wednesday at 3906 Redfield Ave. in North Las Vegas killed an 80-year-old woman and her cat. Fire officials said smoking materials appear to be the cause of the accidental fire.
House fire site
Fire officials said smoking materials likely ignited the interior of a North Las Vegas home early Wednesday morning, killing an 80-year-old woman and her cat.
North Las Vegas fire officials said firefighters responded to a call about smoke in a neighborhood at 4:33 a.m. and found smoke pouring from a chimney at 3906 Redfield Ave. — the only indication of a fire at the residence.
Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Brame said aluminum shutters attached to the outside of the home's doors and windows, probably for safety reasons, concealed the fire, which had started on living room room furniture.
"As a result, it was difficult for our crews to get in," he said. "They had to force their way in."
Upon entry, they found a deceased woman, who has not been identified yet, in her wheelchair with a cat, officials said. North Las Vegas and Las Vegas firefighters extinguished the blaze within 16 minutes.
The aluminum shutters intensified the fire because the flames and smoke had nowhere to escape, except for the chimney, Brame said.
"In this case, because the house is so encapsulated, it literally became an oven," he said.
Officials said the fire caused $75,000 worth of damage to the home.
Brame said it appears the elderly woman lived alone in the home and may have been using oxygen. Her identity will be released pending notification of her family, who live in the Midwest.
The woman's home had smoke alarms, but they weren't connected to a paid monitoring system ‹ a resource Brame said can be useful, especially for elderly people living alone. If representatives from the monitoring systems cannot reach residents when smoke alarms go off, they call 911 and notify emergency workers.
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Poor cat
what about the poor woman sevenhills?
I vote for the cat on the grounds that the women was responsible for the cat.
beat me to it sevenhills!
I am sorry to hear of the woman losing her life.
Are they the officials referring to cigarettes as the cause when they say smoking materials?
Because I have a sister-in-law that is on oxygen and smokes and thinks there's no danger to mixing the two until one day BOOM! she exploded her oxygen lines while lighting a cigarette and caught her apartment on fire!!!!!!!!!!!
Just wondering if this may have been the cause,
And get this my sister-in-law will be the first to tell you that smoking has not harmed her health............(She's on Oxygen because she smokes)
I quit over twelve years ago it's not as hard as you would believe.
I would suggest that Las Vegas Sun remove the 1st, 3rd, and 4th comments.
Its amazing that such people exist that would joke about someones death. Wow. Society has its losers.
westvegas: quit being so sensitive anit nobody here getting out alive. Some people deal with death differently than you. Get a life and get over it.
The woman that died used to be my neighbor. As a single elderly lady she installed the shades as a protection after my house has broken into 2 times. It was once again broken into shortly after it was sold.
Perhaps, rather than fault a person for a habit such as smoking we should be looking at the cause of people being so fearful that they turn their home into Fort Knox.
I have kept in touch with her during the holidays and am saddened by her loss, just as I am sure her family is grieving her passing.
You insensitive morons. That woman was "MY" sister-in-law in that house and we are part of the family in the Midwest. How dare you judge someone like that. She was loved very much and will be missed forever.
I bet all of you have a skeleton or two that you wouldn't like people to find out about so back off with your petty comments and find something really important to complain about.
Typical comments from low class Vegas residents. On second thought, I bet they are immigrants from California..
Sandy,
Please send my condolences to Bev's son and granddaughter. I lived at 3902. She was an intelligent, self sufficent lady. Anyone who knew her will miss her.