MA Fire Chief Says Smokers Oxygen Tank Fed Fire

Plymouth (MA) fire officials are renewing warnings of the danger of mixing smoking with medial oxygen after a woman’s dropped cigarette ignited tubing of her home oxygen tank, which set off a four-alarm fire that injured five people and displaced two dozen residents, reports the Boston Herald (bit.ly/LHmTB9).

The woman was smoking in her bed when she dropped her cigarette on the carpeted floor of her apartment. The oxygen tubes helped the fire spread very quickly, trapping another woman on the second floor. She jumped from her deck and broke her leg.

A police office ran into the building to warn other sleeping residents. He and a firefighter were treated and released for smoke inhalation.

The Boston Herald details that the state fire marshal states that since 1997, when his office began tracking home oxygen-related fires, there have been 85 fires. They have resulted in 33 deaths and 65 people injured, 58 civilians and the rest firefighters.