Carson City Fire Department: Apartment blaze caused by oxygen tank, cigarette ignition
An investigation into Thursday’s fire at an Imperial Way apartment concluded the cause of the blaze was the ignition of an oxygen tank due to smoking, a Carson City acting fire battalion chief said.
On Thursday shortly before 11 a.m., firefighters responding to a medical call at an apartment in the 3300 block of Imperial Way arrived to find heavy smoke coming out of the apartment unit. Firefighters removed the sole occupant, an elderly woman, safely from the apartment and doused the flames. Go here for the original story.
The woman suffered from smoke inhalation and was taken to the hospital. She did not receive any burns from the blaze, officials said. The apartment had moderate interior damage.
“This fire was a direct result of smoking while on oxygen at the same time,” said Lt. Dan Albee, acting battalion chief for the Carson City Fire Department. “It doesn’t matter which kind of oxygen producing machine or device, it is always a bad idea and extremely dangerous when you light up a cigarette.”
Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames before they spread into other units.