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Three left homeless after cigarette ignites oxygen tank hose 

LISBON -- A woman who lit a cigarette while using an oxygen tank sparked a blaze that left three Lisbon residents homeless.

Lisbon volunteer firefighters say the fire started when a woman smoking a cigarette accidentally ignited the hose to her oxygen tank. Firefighters responded to reports of a structure fire at the residence of Arlene Snyder, County Route 28A, at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

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Fire victim was smoking while using oxygen 

The DuPage County Sheriff's Office is continuing its investigation of Monday's apartment fire at 5750 Abbey Drive in unincorporated DuPage County near Lisle that took the life of an 80-year old man.

Ralph J. Lufty, who lived in the apartment in the Abbey Apartments at Four Lakes complex, just east of Benedictine University, was taken to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later . . .

According to a sheriff's office release, Lufty had been smoking while wearing an oxygen tube, which was highly flammable, causing the fire.

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• Using oxygen? Better think again before lighting up  

Fitchburg Fire Chief Kevin Roy remembers a devastating fire caused when an ill woman lit a cigarette while connected to an oxygen tank for her medical problems.

The cigarette sparked a fire on the oxygen tank, badly burning her and causing severe smoke inhalation, which ultimately caused her death, Roy said.

"People that are on oxygen should absolutely not be smoking," Roy said. "It's particularly a problem when it's not someone living in a single-family home. They're putting themselves and a lot of others at risk. ... It's almost a form of suicide when you're doing that."

Roy said he's "very much in support" of a new program launched last week by state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan highlighting the fire dangers of oxygen tanks, because oxygen intensifies the burn of fire, turning accidents into tragedies.

"Every year, we see more and more of these incidents coming up," Roy said.

Coan's office is working with Massachusetts General Hospital and the state task force on home oxygen safety to launch the campaign

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Smoker ignites his oxygen tank 

A Montrose man suffered severe burns across 30 to 40 percent of his body and was flown to a Denver hospital Sunday after he sparked a fire at his home while smoking and using oxygen, authorities said.

The fire broke out around 12:30 p.m. at 807 S. 11th St., said Montrose Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Mike Schell.

He said two brothers in their 80s live in the home. The younger brother, who wasn't identified, told firefighters he had left to get something to eat and saw smoke coming from the house when he returned.

He said he was able to pull out his brother, identified as the homeowner, Richard Swyhart.

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Landover apartment fire started by lit cigarette, oxygen tanks 

A Landover woman who was smoking a cigarette while using an oxygen tank is alleged to be the cause of an early morning apartment fire Monday that hospitalized her and resulted in thousands of dollars in damage, according to Prince George's County fire officials.

Forty firefighters responded about 3:30 a.m. to a blaze in a terrace-level apartment at a three-story garden-style apartment building in the 3400 block of Dodge Park Road, according to a fire department release. The unit is inside the Kings Square Apartments complex.

Firefighters extinguished the fire in 30 minutes and evacuated 40 residents from the building, according to the release.

The woman, who was in her 50s, was last listed in "fair condition" in a local hospital for smoke and burn injuries

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Woman, 62, dies in Quincy fire 

A woman died yesterday morning in a two-alarm fire sparked by a cigarette, according to fire officials.

Residents of the city-owned high-rise at 95 Martensen St., which houses elderly, low-income, and disabled residents, said they had warned 62-year-old Donna Marani not to smoke in her apartment - especially because she regularly used home oxygen devices.

"She was a smoker,'' said Jenn Fell, 31, who lives in the building with her two young sons. "Several people in the building have warned her about smoking while on oxygen. Smoking can be very dangerous, and unfortunately everybody lost a really good friend out of this tragedy.''

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Pulaski man dies after catching fire while smoking with oxygen tank  

A Beaver County man was killed and his wife injured this morning in a fire that started after the man lit up a cigarette while using an oxygen tank, authorities said.

Donald Hawthorne, 78, caught fire about 5:20 a.m. while in a rear bedroom of the mobile home he shared with his wife Bernie, 72, said Pulaski Fire Chief Rich Morrell.

Bernie Hawthorne, who had been sleeping on a living-room couch, raced to the bedroom when she heard her husband's screams . . .

Donald Hawthorne was dead when firefighters pulled him out of the home, which was destroyed, Morrell said. His wife, who suffered smoke inhalation and burns to her face and neck, was in fair condition at the Heritage Valley Beaver hospital.

Donald Hawthorne's relatives reported that he continued smoking one or two cigarettes a day despite the dangers of doing so while using an oxygen tank, Morrell said. "It looks like he woke up and probably wanted to have his morning cigarette before his wife woke up," he said.

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Man on oxygen burned after lighting cigarette  

NATIONAL CITY -- A fire at an assisted-living facility Sunday night was caused by a resident who lit a cigarette in bed while hooked up to oxygen, officials said Monday.

The man suffered serious burns to his upper body and was reported in stable but critical condition at the UCSD burn unit, said National City Fire Marshal Robert Hernandez.

The fire was reported at 6:40 p.m. at the three-story building on South Highland Avenue near East 25th Street. The facility is called Golden Paradise.

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Cigarette + Oxygen = Fire 

An oxygen tank may be to blame for a fire at a senior living community in National City.

Firefighters quickly put out the fire in the Golden Paradise senior living community but not before one man was taken to the hospital with severe burns.

The facility, located in the 2500 block of south Highland Drive, caught fire Sunday.

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Cigarette, oxygen bottles fuel fire that destroys couple's Port Townsend duplex  

A cigarette and oxygen bottles combined to fuel a fire that destroyed a home early Wednesday morning, leaving its two residents homeless.

The fire, accompanied by explosions heard from miles away from the home at 1068 Cedar St., destroyed Unit B of a single- story duplex. . . .

Jay Reynolds, who was on oxygen for a health condition, often would get up in the night, light a cigarette and step outside to smoke it, Keplinger said fire investigators determined.

Early Wednesday morning, he apparently lit a cigarette, stood up to go outside and passed out or had a seizure, she said.

"He fell to the floor and pulled a tube on the oxygen tank loose," Keplinger said.

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Lit cigarette, oxygen tank fuel Port Townsend fire 

Firefighters say a lit cigarette and oxygen tanks likely fueled a blaze that destroyed a home early Wednesday, leaving two people homeless.

East Jefferson Fire Rescue spokeswoman Keppie Keplinger says a man who lived at the single story duplex used oxygen tanks for health problems - and that he had the habit of lighting up a cigarette outside in the evenings.

Keplinger says that apparently the man suffered a seizure or passed out, and pulled the oxygen tank loose near the lit cigarette.

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Mom's cigarette ignites oxygen supply; son charged 

A western Pennsylvania man has been charged with neglecting his disabled mother who weighed just 70 pounds when she died of burns caused when her cigarette caught her oxygen supply on fire.

Police say 53-year-old Rosemary McCurdy died Dec. 26 after suffering facial burns from a "flash fire." The woman had multiple sclerosis and had been bedridden for five years when she was burned Dec. 21.

Police say 22-year-old Victor McCurdy didn't take her to the hospital until five days after she was burned.

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Man using oxygen tank dies while smoking 

A Franklinton man died last night when his oxygen tank fueled a fire caused by his smoking in bed.

James Yantis, 57, was killed about 9 p.m., according to the Columbus Fire Division.

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Mount Carmel fire blamed on cigarette, medical oxygen tank 

A Wednesday night house fire on Elm Street in Mount Carmel has been attributed to a person using medical oxygen while smoking a cigarette, a combination that has resulted in several serious residential fires in the region over the past year and a half.

At 8:43 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters were dispatched to 534 Elm St. in Mount Carmel, a residence occupied by Varcilla Jackson, 57, and her father Guy Cobb, 81.

Mount Carmel Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chris Jones said Jackson, who is on a medical oxygen tank, was lying in bed and fell asleep while smoking a cigarette.

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Five injured in fire caused by oxygen, smoking, officials say 

An early Thursday morning fire that injured five people and caused extensive damage to eight apartments in southeast Reno was caused by someone smoking while using medical oxygen, the Reno Fire Department said. . . .

Ambulances took four people to Renown Regional Medical Center for injuries ranging from burns to broken ribs to smoke inhalation. A fifth person was treated for injuries at the scene.

Fire spokesman Steve Frady didn't have details on the injuries.

The fire started when an elderly resident using oxygen dropped a cigarette onto the floor, according to the fire department.

Residents heard oxygen bottles exploding in the fire, the department reported. . . .

Investigators said the main danger to people from an oxygen enriched atmosphere is that clothing, bedding, upholstery, even hair can absorb oxygen that can easily catch fire, cause serious or fatal burns and fire to extend throughout a structure.

They suggest rooms in which oxygen is used be well-ventilated and that all smoking and open flame forbidden.

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