Obese Dead Person Blamed for Fire at Va. Crematory
Source Firehouse.com News
Fire broke out at a Henrico County crematoriam when officials said a "rather large body," was bring cremated.
Workers were processing a 500-pound body at the Southside Cremation broke out around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
"The body was so obese that the actual body fat came off and went straight up the sack and hit the roof material, the rubber roof we have up there and that's what made it go up like it did," manager Jerry Hendrix told WWBT. "Once it started, the grease hit the roof and started the fire, the only thing we could do is dial 911 and get the fire department here."
In an email to WTVR, Henrico Fire Capt. Daniel Rosenbaum wrote, “The Henrico Fire Marshal’s office has determined the cause of the fire to have been accidental in nature." The rubber roofing near the smoke stack was ignited by the heat of the stack.”
Three bodies were in the facility when the fire happened, but workers said they were not damaged.
Three workers escaped the fire unharmed.
