Aug. 21--A fatal house fire in Seminole County that has now claimed three lives was caused by an electrical short, the state Fire Marshal's Office said Tuesday.
Hattie Mae Graham died Monday on her 88th birthday, officials said.
She had been on life support at Orlando Regional Medical Center since the Aug. 11 fire at her home in the Jamestown neighborhood near Oviedo, friends said.
The blaze was caused by an overload on an electrical wire, which shorted out, fire investigators said.
Flames devoured the rear of the wood-frame home on East Street, caused smoke damage throughout and melted part of the tin roof.
Neighbors said the lights went out at the house about 15 minutes before the fire started.
Carl "Wes" Weston, 61, who also lived there with his fiancee, Mercedean "Moot" Richardson, 63, went outside and flipped a circuit breaker to restore the lights, the neighbors said.
Weston and Richardson were on the back porch when the flames erupted about 8 p.m. They rushed inside to save Graham, who depended on a walker, but all three were trapped.
Weston died less than an hour later. Richardson died two days later. Both succumbed to carbon-monoxide poisoning and burns, a medical examiner said.
The house, built in 1962, was 742 square feet including a 66-square-foot porch, Seminole County property records show. It originally contained just 336 square feet of living space, but enclosed porches were added.
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