Firefighters rescued an 88-yearold woman who was trapped in a back bedroom of her southeast home Sunday morning after a fire broke out in the living room.
A neighbor reported smoke coming from the roof of the one-story, white house on the 600 block of Solano Drive SE, at around 8 a.m., according to the Albuquerque Fire Department. Tipped off that there may be someone in the house, firefighters found the woman in a back room, said Captain David Mowery. She told them she tried to leave through a back door but couldn't because she didn't have a key. She was also unable to open a window, he said.
The woman was taken to Presbyterian Hospital with smoke inhalation, he said.
Firefighters believe the fire may have been caused by items close to a wood burning stove. There were no smoke detectors found in the house, according to to the AFD.
By Sunday afternoon, plywood covered the windows and doors of the house and blackened personal items covered the yard. Neighbors said there was so much smoke, they feared the woman was dead.
The fire was one of four residential fires that the AFD responded to Sunday morning.
The others were: A triplex on Monroe NE where no one was home, believed to be caused by a gas floor heater; the 5500 block of Edie Place NW, where an occupant evacuated safely due to a smoke detector; and two vacant apartment units on the 500 block of Kentucky SE, where the cause was still being investigated.
Mowery said the fire department sees an increase in fires this time of year due to the cold weather. People begin to use their fireplaces and furnaces without cleaning them or clearing the area of flammable material and homeless people sometimes start fires in vacant buildings.
He urged people to check smoke detectors, replace batteries every six months, remove all flammable materials from around heating devices and always have an exit plan to leave the house.
Copyright 2012 - Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
